We are introducing a new way for measuring the popularity of brand names and famous people such as movie stars, politicians, and business executives. It is based upon the premise that in today's Internet economy the Web displays a mirror of the real world. Our system measures popularity and influence of these brands and people by looking at their relative position on the Web. In principle, it is based on the simple insight: "You are who links to you". It applies the Social Network Analysis (SNA) metrics of betweenness centrality to the Web, looking at the linking structure of Web sites to find how Web sites are connected. Betweenness centrality of an person in a social network is an approximation for his or her influence. Basically, it looks at the number of shortest paths through the entire network, which pass through the person whose betweenness centrality is measured. As access to knowledge and information flow frequently are means to gain and hold on to power, the betweenness centrality of a person is a direct indication of an actor's influence.

We are now applying the same insight to the Web, looking at the linking structure between Web sites.

For example, we can look who among the 2008 US Presidential candidates is currently (August 2006) the most popular on the Web, generating the most buzz?