The 30 best people in advertising to follow on Twitter

That's why we pull together an annual list of the best people in advertising and marketing to follow on Twitter.

These are the executives we believe provide the most value with tweets that are insightful, offer useful information, give us an inside look at their company, or simply make us laugh. They may not necessarily work in an agency but what they have to share provides value for the whole of the advertising community.

Methodology: We've weighted our rankings using a (not entirely mathematical) scale of how often the user tweets, how often they engage with other Twitter users, and whether the majority of those tweets tend to be useful/opinionated/funny or simply brighten people's Twitter feeds day to day.

30. The Agency Review

Handle: @TheAgencyReview

Occupation: Informational account

Why: Reviews and summarizes books about the advertising industry, so you know what's worth reading and what isn't.

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29. Lindsay Pattison

Handle: @lindsaymaxus

Occupation: CEO of Maxus Worldwide

Why: Pattison uses Twitter to promote talent diversity in the advertising industry.

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28. Douchebag Strategist

Handle: @douchebagstrat

Occupation: Comedy Account

Why: Satirical quotes of jargon you would hear in an agency pitch or at the Cannes Lions advertising festival.

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27. Christel Quek

Handle: @ladyxtel

Occupation: VP Asia Pacific at Brandwatch

Why: As a digital expert in Asia, Quek often shares news and information about the region which you may have missed.

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26. Meredith Levien

Handle: @meredith_levien

Occupation: Chief revenueofficer at the New York Times

Why: A media veteran ,Levien gives insight into what's going on behind the scenes in media and is a champion of women in the industry.

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25. Wendy Clark

Handle: @wnd

Occupation: CEO North America at DDB Worldwide

Why: Clark champions women in the industry and shares inspirational quotes about advertising and insights into what's going on at DDB.

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24. David Berkowitz

Handle: @dberkowitz

Occupation: Chief Strategy Officer at Sysomos

Why: As an executive at social analytics firm Sysomos, Berkowitz approaches advertising from the consumer point of view and shares his opinions on what the industry should do differently.

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23. Ann Handley

Handle: @MarketingProfs

Occupation: Chief contento fficer at Marketing Profs, author, and keynote speaker.

Why: According to her Twitter bio, Handley is "waging a war against mediocrity in content marketing." On her feed she shares useful material about content marketing from her own website and others.

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22. Katherine M. Gordon

Handle: @katgordon

Occupation: Founder of the 3% Conference

Why: After a career as an agency creative director, Gordon founded the 3% Conference out of frustration with the lack of female creative directors in agencies. Her tweets often reflect the need for change in advertising agencies and her account is the first to share what advertising is doing to improve in diversity.

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21. Bob Hoffman

Handle: @AdContrarian

Occupation: Partner at Type A Group

Why: An entirely unfiltered news and commentary source on the advertising industry. Hoffman often throws his tweets back to his blog where people can read his longform analyses.

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20. Neil Robinson

Handle: @dnrobinson

Occupation: Co-founder of Chapter SF

Why: As a former creative director at AKQA turned business consultancy founder in San Francisco, Robinson has a unique and often cynical view of the advertising and tech industries.

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19. Dave Trott

Handle: @davetrott

Occupation: Creative direction consultant

Why: Known for his popular advertising book "Predatory Thinking" Trott will often share columns he's written or interviews he's given.

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18. James Whatley

Handle: @Whatleydude

Occupation: Innovation planning partner at Ogilvy & Mather UK

Why: As someone who's responsible for innovation in a legacy creative agency, Whatley gives a good sense of what the industry is interested in at the moment and he usually has a fun comment to share.

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17. Brooke Hammerling

Handle: @brooke

Occupation: Founder of Brew PR

Why: As the founder of a leading San Francisco PR firm, Hammerling knows what's going on in Silicon Valley and regularly shares it on her feed.

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16. Stacy Minero

Handle: @sminero

Occupation: Head of planning and creative agency development at Twitter

Why: Minero often shares how brands are using Twitter and gives an idea of what direction the social media service is going in.

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15. Frank Addante

Handle: @FrankAddante

Occupation: Founder and CEO of Rubicon Project

Why: Addante is a great source of articles about the advertising industry and how it can innovate.

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14. Jonathan Mildenhall

Handle: @Mildenhall

Occupation: CMO of Airbnb

Why: At Airbnb Mildenhall has the opportunity to run exciting campaigns and his Twitter feed shows how much he loves it. Mildenhall is also working to improve diversity in the industry — both the diversity of the people that work in it and the portrayal of a diverse group of people in ads.

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13. Martin Weigel

Handle: @mweigel

Occupation: Head of planning at Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam

Why: Gives an inside look at what happens in an agency and no nonsense comments on branding.

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12. Rachel Mercer

Handle: @rachelmercer

Occupation: VP, head of digital strategy at Deutsch New York

Why: A rare sceptic inside the advertising industry, Mercer has great commentary on what's happening in tech

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11. Tom Goodwin

Handle: @tomfgoodwin

Occupation: EVP, Head of Innovation at Zenith

Why: Always looking to provoke a debate, Goodwin provides fun commentary and information on digital media and technology.

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10. Jason Kint

Handle: @jason_kint

Occupation: CEO of Digital Content Next

Why: Shares his strong opinons on digital media and the implications the evolution in advertising has for privacy.

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9. David Carroll

Handle: @profcarroll

Occupation: Associate Professor of Media Design at The New School's Parsons School of Design.

Why: A critical look at the digital advertising industry and a wealth of information about privacy concerns and ad fraud.

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8. Beth Comstock

Handle: @bethcomstock

Occupation: Vice Chair at GE

Why: Her previous jobs at NBC and then as CMO of GE give Comstock a high level perspective on what's happening in both media and technology.

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7. Faris Yakobi

Handle: @faris

Occupation: Founder of Genius Steals

Why: Yakob left the traditional advertising world to start a creative strategy consultancy and his tweets often reflect his belief that advertising needs to change.

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6. Jessica Smith

Handle: @WarJessEagle

Occupation: Social media and content at Under Armour

Why: Smith gives a valuable look inside sports marketing and often shares campaigns and insights from them.

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5. Ari Paparo

Handle: @aripap

Occupation: CEO of Beeswax

Why: An ad tech veteran, Paparo regularly comments on news from the advertising industry and isn't afraid to make fun of it.

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5. Mark Duffy

Handle: @copyranter

Occupation: Advertising critic

Why: A no-filter approach to telling you which ads he believes are good and which aren't.

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3. Cindy Gallop

Handle: @cindygallop

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Why: As a former head of one of the biggest creative agencies Gallop became aware of the gender disparity in the industry and it's become one of the topics she often tweets about.

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2. Tess Alps

Handle: @TessAlps

Occupation: Chair at TV marketing body Thinkbox

Why: As a television expert Alps is quick to decrypt news from the media industry, especially when it's data published by digital platforms to show they're more powerful than traditional TV, something she calls "numberwanging."

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1. Adweak

Handle: @adweak

Occupation: Comedy account

Why: Satirical "breaking" news from advertising that taps into the sentiment of many working in the industry.

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