The Prez is king: Obama named ‘most influential social media person’ of 2012

Perhaps it was the most retweeted tweet in history. Or the photo with the most Facebook likes ever. Most likely, it’s a history of consistently engaging via social media.

But whatever the cause, Barack Obama is the the king of social media, according to a new poll by social marketing firm SocialToaster. Three-thousand of the company’s social media pros ranked the president of the United States as the most influential social media person of 2012.

The other top finishers were mostly entertainers and media personages:

1. Barack Obama: 50 percent
2. Justin Bieber: 38.2 percent
3. Lady Gaga: 35.3 percent
4. Ashton Kutcher: 32.4 percent
5. Anderson Cooper: 26.5 percent

In the same poll, SocialToaster asked the social media marketers who was most likely to influence them on a social issue. Social posts by close friends ranked highest, with 95 percent agreeing that a friend’s post was influential, while family came in at only 56.1 percent. Well-known bloggers ran a fairly close third at 39 percent.

Oh, and if you don’t want to be unfriended or unfollowed, avoid these behaviors, which respondents ranked by likelihood of defriending:

1. Racism: 73.2 percent
2. Sexism: 63.4 percent
3. Porn: 53.7 percent
4. Repetitiousness: 51.2 percent
5. Too personal: 39 percent
6. Poor grammar: 34.1 percent

Here’s the infographic: