One of the greatest things about social media is that anyone can become influential in any given niche. Some are even able to create niches where there were none before. It is the potential of an open media format with no real boundaries, and complete access to a target audience of any kind. If it can be thought up, it can become widespread (“planking” is proof of this concept).

When it comes to Twitter, access to influencers is even better. You have the chance to utilize an innovative search/tagging method, and break things down into categories in a way that was never possible before. However, this is a limited tool on the site itself, and you need third party resources to do it properly.

Here are ten tools to help you out.

1. Twitter Search

This should be your first port of call. Often, you can find major names in certain niches just by doing searches for hashtags. Or, use a social media dashboard like TweetDeck or HootSuite to keep a watch on certain mentions and establish patterns based on your own data. It is a long way of doing it, but it can be beneficial to use this tactic along with the tools below.

Here are some cool Twitter search tricks to let you play even more (as well as the social media guide for advanced searching)

2. Listorious

More than two million Twitter users are currently listed on Listorious. They are all helpfully tagged by niche most commonly attributed, such as charity, activism, children, writers, travel, sports and more. You can check out the tags, or do your own search for a more specific niche. You will also see people, topics, links and lists trending on Twitter right now.

3. Sulia

This service has gathered info from millions of users and found the experts on different subjects. They then filtered them into channels, which you can use to search through your necessary niche. It is a quick way of finding the more influential people on any given topic, from celebrities to bloggers.

4. FollowerWonk

This one comes with SEOmoz PRO. You can search Twitter bios, analyze, track and sort followers and compare users. All based on current and constantly updated data. Here’s Rand’s video explaining how it works

5. SocialBro

There is a feature on here specifically cited as a means of discovering influencers based on customized criteria. So automatically, you can see why it is a great tool. They also have full analytics, data on followers, social contact and profile management and more. Their prices are really good, as well, with plans ranging from $6.99 to customized plans for corporate use.

6. Klout

Increase your visibility, or find others who are considered influential in a niche, with this awesome tool. Billions of pieces of data are analyzed daily, and more than 100 million people are listed. Very cool resource for building your own influence recognition.

7. Topsy

This is an interesting system that works by establishing trends in thoughts, opinions, popular culture and more. You can do this on the ideas themselves, or the people who make them. From there you can analyze and compare data.

8. Endorse

Sometimes, the best way to find out who is influencing the common users of the internet is through the users themselves. This is a program that works through “friendly endorsement” from other users. You can find experts within a specific network through a simple search, as well.

9. SciencePond

Are you looking for influencers on science, in particular? This is the perfect website to help you. From Biology to Biotechnology, they have a full list of scientists on Twitter, including those who have reached the height of influence.

10. Twellow

A basic list of users based on popularity, there are a number of categories with users listed within. You have niches such as News and Media, Sports, Government, Education and more. You can find results based on smaller niches, location or other factors.

11. Commun.it

The handy Twitter management platform (still in beta) will let you identify influencers within your network and build better relationships with them

Further reading: Use Social Networking to Effectively Build Media & PR Contacts (Tools and Tips). Here’s another excellent one on Twitter customer service from DirJournal web directory to learn to do it right!

Do you know of a good tool for niche influencer searches on the web? Let us know in the comments!