The list is the first attempt to combine data from a variety of social media formats to judge the most influential users. Rankings were derived from a combination of hits on blogs, numbers of friends on Facebook and numbers of contacts on LinkedIn.

Steve Rubel, senior vice president in Edelman’s me2revolution practice, came out on top while marketing consultant Michael Arrington’s TechCrunch came second.

Edelman Europe president and CEO David Brain admitted that the chart is more a measure of popularity than of influence, but said the method had been generally well received by the social media community.