Ten most followed Philadelphia Twitter users

It’s tough to say just what it all means, but there’s some fascination with Twitter follower counts.

It’s a metric of some kind. Not quite popularity or power or purpose. Influence, yes, though many a spam account accrues tens of thousands of followers. So, take that as our warning. Twitter follower counts don’t necessarily mean jack, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

So we took a quick spin to meet who was out there representing Philadelphia in Twitter conversations. Who are the 10 most followed Twitter users listing Philadelphia as their home?

Below, you find out.

You won’t be surprised to find that at least four and perhaps as many as six of Philadelphia’s most followed Twitter users might be labeled as spam. If that speaks more on Twitter or Philadelphia, we’ll leave that to you.

But members of the community noted for their Twitter-use who were overrun by arguably spammy accounts include blogger Atrios, and Todd Zolecki, former Inquirer Phillies beat writer and current MLB.com scribe, among others. The Inquirer is the most followed legacy media account — we’re only in the top 75.

Such is use on the world’s most popular micro-blogging platform. Our list, compiled with help from Twitterholic.

1. Questlove — The much beloved drummer from the Roots (1.8 million followers)
   On Twitter, he just might challenge a friend to a duel.
2. Urban Outfitters — The Philly-founded clothing franchise (120,952)
   On Twitter, the store just might send you to a deal on its clothing
3. Bob Garrett — An internet social marketing consultant who excessively participates in follow Friday (68,393 followers)
   On Twitter, he just might overuse the Follow Friday mechanism so much that he manages to retweet other people’s #FF
4. Jon Gruber — The legendary Apple insider and Daring Fireball author (48,593)
   On Twitter, he just might banter about Flash use on the iPad
5. Judy — This jewelry designer follows 3,000 more people than follow her (29,900)
   On Twitter, she just might retweet one too many times
6. Beth Harte — A consultant for Virginia-based Serengeti Communications (18,882)
   On Twitter, she just might network like nobody’s business
7. Phyllis Mufson — A certified life coach (16,551)
   On Twitter, she just might interrupt her own retweeting to thank people for retweeting her
8. Poet Jack Storm — A poet with a YouTube account (17,015)
   On Twitter, he just might say things like “you can live without arteries but not without heart.”
9. Larry Mendte — The first host of Access Hollywood and former CBS 3  news anchor (12,725)
   On Twitter, he just might say thank you to every nut job that ever tweeted him
10. Mr. Green Thumb — Yup, your “go-to garden expert.” (13,904)
    On Twitter, he just might compete with Judy in the number of retweets he can dispense

Is that a list of which we can be proud?

This is a semi-regular department we may or may not call Top Ten Tuesdays. There’s no judging in brainstorming. See others here.