Compare Twitter Social Graphs with Vennly

Twitter is a goldmine of information nested in a chaotic cloud of noise. There are so many opportunities to cut through that noise by building apps using the next generation of the Twitter API. They aptly call it V2.

My first attempt is an app called Vennly. A search tool to find the intersection of who people follow on Twitter. If you think of each follow as an endorsement, then the intersection of follows from 2 trusted users is a super endorsement. The resulting list of users is a great way to discover new people to follow for a given topic.

Let's dive into a few examples.

Maybe you want to learn more about US politics. You could be a Democrat, a Republican, an Anarchist or something else entirely. But you want to learn more about the Democrats and what makes them tick. So you look at the intersection between @BarackObama and @TheDemocrats. The results page should look something like this.

Already within the first 4 results I'm seeing people who I'm not entirely familiar with. So I click through to Dan Pfeiffer and Valerie Jarrett to learn more. Maybe their words resonate with me and I follow to hear more over time. Or maybe I feel like they are too connected to the echo chamber and seeing their words lends context, but I decide not to follow. Either way, I feel good about discovering new voices.

Now let's look at another use case. Say you want to learn more about investing in startups. I might look at the intersecting graphs of Garry Tan and Brad Feld. I have a ton of respect for both investors but, at least in my mind, they seem very different. Here is the current graph.

I feel like spending an hour going through this list and interacting with these people would be an incredible use of time. I have no doubt I'd enrich my social graph and learn a few things in the process.

One last example. So far I've looked at 2 accounts in the same space. What happens if we analyze accounts from different spaces? Just for fun, let's try Bill Gates and Drake.

It's not surprising they don't have a lot in common. Bill Gates isn't really known for his love for sports or music. But the few things they do have in common are really interesting. The fact that they both endorse Richard Branson and Barack Obama does say something. If nothing else, I find it comforting to see commonalities from 2 people without an obvious common thread.

Try out Vennly and let me know what you think. I hope you find the tool useful in some way. If not, ping me on Twitter and let me know what's missing.