If I were making Twitter's "Suggested Users" list...

Last Friday, Twitter made a huge move to bring social innovation to the masses by adding about a dozen new social entrepreneurs and organizations to its “Suggested Users” list. I was fortunate enough to be among that group. In the last three days alone, my account has ballooned from 1,000 to over 15,000 followers and counting. For a company like Twitter to even know about the rapidly evolving world of social innovation is one thing – for it to invest in consciously using its platform is a whole new dimension expanding way beyond traditional CSR.  I'm honored to be a part of the experiment!

That being said, I know that my suggested user status is, in many ways, a nice gift of good old-fashion luck.  In honor of FORGE’s good fortune, I’d like to pass on my own list of the “Top 20 Suggested Users” on Twitter.  My Top 20 list is compiled based on people who I’ve found to have the most consistently useful and thought-provoking content.  They are people who are willing to ask questions and engage in conversation rather than dictate and promote.  Because I find it most useful to converse with individuals, my suggested users are all personal accounts with unique points of view.  Unfortunately, that means I had to leave off the incredible Social Edge account - which is really the clearinghouse for all things social entrepreneurship on Twitter.

For ease, I’ve (imperfectly) divided my list by three rough themes that these individuals tend to represent: Progressive Philanthropy & Social Innovation, Social Entrepreneurship & Change Strategies, and International Development Reality & Theory.  Within the lists it’s alphabetical because I can’t prioritize between them, and they are listed with their twitter profile descriptions.  If you have any interest in these themes, I can’t encourage you enough to see what these amazing individuals have to say! 

  KJERSTIN'S TOP 20 SUGGESTED USERS ON TWITTER

Creative Capital, Philanthropy, & Social Innovation

• Jessamyn Lau - Altruistic, slightly capitalist, out to change the world through creative social good, program leader for the Peery Foundation.
• Kevin Doyle Jones - helping build the social capital market
• Lauren Finzer - Stanford '09, summer intern at World Bank Inspection Panel, Fellow at Hewlett Foundation starting Fall '09, interested in Africa & health/env intersection
• Sasha Dichter - Acumen Fund Biz Dev Director, blogger on philanthropy and communications, dad.
• Sean Stannard-Stockton - Sean Stannard-Stockton is the CEO of Tactical Philanthropy Advisors.
• Tony Wang - Research Associate at Blueprint Research & Design, a philanthropy consulting firm. Former RA at Hewlett Foundation. Elected board member of SEA-SF. Blogger.

Social Entrepreneurship & Change Strategies

• Brit Bravo - Blogger, podcaster, nonprofit consultant, have fun do gooder
• Can Sar - Apture CTO, Entrepreneur, Traveler, Stanford PhD dropout, Lifelong Learner. Interested in Media, Innovation, Africa, and Social Entrepreneurship.
• Joseph Sinatra - social entrepreneurship, soul music and civics
• Nathaniel Whittemore - The official twitter account of the Social Entrepreneurship channel at Change.org. Personal account @nlw
• Paul Hudnut - Entrepreneur, advisor, educational arsonist, Envirofit co-founder
• Steve Jennings - Humanitarian Entrepreneur. Social web explorer. Redefining 'social change' economics and models. Activating youth in the fight against poverty and hunger.
• Teju Ravi- Connections Strategist for the Unreasonable Institute, using social entrepreneurship to create systemic solutions to global problems. Tweet for @BeUnreasonable.
• Tom Dawkins - Social entrepreneur, activist, organiser, burner, doofer, dreamer. Currently social media guy at Ashoka (@ashokatweets).
  

International Development Reality and Theory:

• Abby Speight - I am the Programming Director at FORGE (www.FORGEnow.org). I'm originally from Texas, but came to the Bay Area for Stanford.
• Alanna Shaikh - International development optimist and skeptic, global health blogger, writer for UN Dispatch
• Ashis Brahma - talking darfur, living africa, loving life to its deepest
• Jacqueline Novogratz - CEO, Acumen Fund (@acumenfund) and author, The Blue Sweater (www.thebluesweater.com)
• Pacon Miller - Married Father of 2 boys, RPCV Mali, Better World Books Analyst
• Rachel Strohm - Enjoys Africa, critical geography, development economics, and microfinance. Northwestern student, Dartmouth alum. Has interesting articles saved as Favorites.