...it's time to update the Apostolic Power Rankings!
(In case you don't know what that means, I've been tracking the stats since the LDS Church unveiled official Facebook pages for its 15 highest-ranking officers last June. My last update before today can be found here. They have Google+ pages too, but I ignore them just like I do everything else related to Google+. Within the past week, these prophets and apostles have begun to have a Twitter presence for the first time. More on that below.)
Just like last time, I recorded the number of Likes on each page an hour or so before the first General Conference session started. Between November 8, 2013 (the date of my last post), and April 5, 2014, President Eyring increased his Like total by 19.5%, by far the slowest growth rate. Most rates were in the 30s and 40s, but six saw increases above 60%, topped by Elder Scott at 72.1 and Elder Ballard at 71.3.
Also like last time, I've waited a few weeks to capture any post-Conference Like spike as people around the world receive and study the aforementioned magazine, or watch/read/listen to the talks online. Here are the new standings (of course, this is not an actual competition, just something I do for fun), with some commentary on the trends I find most interesting. Numbers are as of about 5:30 PM MT on May 6, 2014.
15. Neil L. Andersen: 50,531 Likes, gain of 6.2% since November 8
Along with Elder Oaks, I had assumed Elder Andersen's talk was the one most likely to generate a noticeable bump in these numbers, as they were the only two to directly address hot-button social issues, and as I've pointed out before, there is no Dislike feature on Facebook--yet. (Get on that, Zuckerberg!) But I was wrong--Elder Andersen had dropped from 13th last November to 15th by April, and he's still at the bottom of the list.
14. Quentin L. Cook: 54,258, 7%
Elder Cook has been in either 13th or 14th place every time I've recorded the numbers, the most consistent results outside of the top 2.
13. D. Todd Christofferson: 55,933, 6.7%
Before this week, any time (pre- or post-Conference) that I'd recorded the numbers, the only increase that measured lower than 10% was President Monson's 9.6 from October to November last year. This time around, 8 of 15 were at 10 or below. As the total number of Likes keeps increasing, it follows that passing that "tithing line" (copyright Jeff Hofmann 2014) will be harder and harder to do.
12. Boyd K. Packer: 59,710, 6.1%
President Packer's talk seemed a bit like a farewell testimony, like Bruce R. McConkie's in particular. I thought it might result in a large Like increase, but he had the third-lowest growth in the last month. I will be interested to see what the Church does with these social media pages when the apostle they represent passes away.
11. Henry B. Eyring: 66,837, 2.5%
President Eyring is in free fall, at least as far as the APR is concerned, dropping from 3rd to 4th to 7th to 11th since last October, with growth rates significantly lower than any of his brethren. I'm pretty sure I know the reason for this: his page is hard to find on Facebook. I have only to type "Hen" in the FB search box for his unofficial "author page" to be suggested, but even after typing out the full "Henry B. Eyring," I still have to click "Find all pages named Henry B Eyring" before I can get to the official page. This doesn't happen for any of the others, and I have no idea why Facebook hides him in this way.
10. Robert D. Hales: 68,587, 19.6%
Elder Hales' trajectory is the inverse of President Eyring's. After finding himself at the bottom since the inception of APR, Elder Hales shot up to 11th just before Conference, and continues to climb the charts.
9. Russell M. Nelson: 70,000, 11.2%
8. L. Tom Perry: 70,058, 11.1%
The Nelson-Perry pairing is the most fascinating thing I've observed as I've charted the progression of these numbers. I've now recorded numbers on five separate dates, and among those five the greatest margin between was 1.25%. The difference in total Likes started at 33, jumped up to a still-super-close 420, then the margin closed to 77, 65, and now 58. For every 1,200 or so Elder Perry fans, there's just one person who doesn't also Like Elder Nelson (statistically speaking).
7. David A. Bednar: 73,809, 10%
This is the first time Elder Bednar has ranked anywhere but 5th. His drop is due more to above-average increases by a few others rather than slippage on his own part--he experienced the 8th-best growth rate for the third straight measurement period. Elder Bednar is likely the most even-tempered, the least demonstrative, of all the Apostles, so I'm not surprised that his APR scores are so consistent.
6. M. Russell Ballard: 76,730, 22.1%
His Conference talk didn't stand out to me but his CES Fireside address last Sunday did, and with its focus on smart phones and social media and such I'm not surprised to see his Facebook numbers take a positive bump. However, his impact on the APR may be felt most dramatically six months from now--following the aforementioned Devotional, Elder Ballard sent the first official Apsotolic tweet.
Elder Holland has since followed suit, and all the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve seem to now have accounts (now you can literally follow the prophet!), though I'm not fully convinced that all of the accounts I'm seeing people follow are official. I will be tracking the apostolic presence on Twitter and will definitely say something about it in this space next time, though it's unclear at this point if Twitter will play a role in the APR.
5. Dallin H. Oaks: 80,855, 23.4%
I was wrong about Elder Andersen, but not about Elder Oaks. Here's an applicable copy-and-paste from my post six months ago: "At Conference, Elder Oaks gave the talk that people were most likely to take issue with (I do not take issue with it, for the record), but as I pointed out frequently in the last post, there's currently no 'Dislike' option on Facebook, so his steadiness on the list isn't surprising." I should clarify, because in a way I do take issue with the recent talk; I know that everything he said is true, but I do not think it actually addressed the concerns of the Ordain Women movement, which seemed to be the intent. Regardless, he's had the biggest growth sonce Conference, and moved up one spot overall after placing 6th on every previous measurement date.
4. Jeffrey R. Holland: 81,738, 5.5%
Dropped one spot after achieving the second-smallest growth rate. Not counting President Monson's traditional welcome address, Elder Holland was the first speaker at Conference, so maybe people forgot about him a bit by the next time they logged into the 'book. If this part of the list stays the same six months from now, I may not be able to help myself from making Holland-Oaks/Hall & Oates references.
3. Richard G. Scott: 81,955, 20.7%
The biggest surprise of the APR, particularly since Elder Scott is the only apostle in the top 9 that I would say doesn't have a cult of personality on some level (added the link because when the word "cult" is used in reference to Mormons in any way, there can be a lot of knee-jerk reactions). He had the highest growth rate from November to April and third-best since then, helping him rise from 7th to 3rd.
2. Dieter F. Uchtdorf: 100,581, 9.4%
1. Thomas S. Monson: 215,985, 17.2%
These two spots ain't changing, not for a long time. Their percentage-increase is generally middle-of-the-pack or worse, but that's just because everyone went out of their way to Like them as soon as they got the chance. The bottom four on this list have only about 5,000 more combined Likes than President Monson has on his own.
See you in six months for the next installment of the Apostolic Power Rankings. Until then, keep studying your Ensign!
