Comments on: UK newspapers add 213,892 Twitter followers in a month

By: focoafrprtng

focoafrprtng — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:14:43 +0000

Instant updates like twitter have forced reporters to work a lot harder. They have to constantly be keeping up on news. Not like every hour constantly for the website, but every few minutes, or whenever something new happens. If they aren’t, somebody else probably is.

By: Cool stuff – September 7, 2009 — Danny Whatmough.com

Cool stuff – September 7, 2009 — Danny Whatmough.com — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:34:51 +0000

[...] UK newspapers add 213,892 Twitter followers in a month [...]

By: Matt Wardman

Matt Wardman — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:16:00 +0000

>(Of course, you could argue that the number of followers is a pointless metric, especially with accounts that have a following/follower ratio of close to 1 …).

I couldn’t possibly comment that (cough). But I think that there are also factors such as whether someone has an existing platform or profile, which makes quite a bit of difference.

By: malcolmcoles

malcolmcoles — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:51:39 +0000

Matt: yes, mostly newsfeeds. When I started counting in July, I pointed out that:
Out of 131 accounts, just 24 do something other than running as a glorified RSS feed. The other 107 do no retweeting, no replying to other tweets etc.

@timesfashion is one of the 24 – it’s very engaged with its readers. No surprise, maybe, that it’s risen to number 2? (Of course, you could argue that the number of followers is a pointless metric, especially with accounts that have a following/follower ratio of close to 1 …).

By: Matt Wardman

Matt Wardman — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:32:39 +0000

Am I right in assuming that these are mainly newsfeeds?

I find the figures surprisingly low – is that because newspapers online have minimal direct person-to-person contact. Compare with media with more intimate contact e.g., radio.

It is worth noting that individual journalist with their “personal work related” feeds would be very high on that list.

e.g., Jemima Kiss on 13k, Jack Schofield 7k, Charles Arthur 9k (all Guardian again).

Also the prof. feed of Journalism.co.uk would be 5 on this list.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:05:36 +0000

Malcolm: Most Scottish papers don’t submit to ABCe but Scotsman.com does: http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=44210&c=1

By: links for 2009-09-03 « Jon Bernstein

links for 2009-09-03 « Jon Bernstein — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:02:01 +0000

[...] UK Newspapers add 213,892 Twitter followers in a month …or 17% on August 1. [Malcolm Coles, Online Journalism Blog] (tags: Twitter Newspapers Social_Media) [...]

By: Stefan

Stefan — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:50:02 +0000

The national UK newspapers in Twitter are mostly the Guardian presence, because the others are practically nonexistent in this social channel.

By: malcolm coles

malcolm coles — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:32:14 +0000

Nick: I’ve discussed the issue around Scottish papers in the comments here before. I may be calling them the wrong thing (but can’t think of a better name – the UK thing is more to stop Americans thinking the Times is the NY Times which has happened before!). The Scottish ones don’t take part in the ABCes so I tend to exclude them from my newspaper comparisons. Still, I should probably exclude the FT on that basis some months.

By: George Hopkin

George Hopkin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:32:07 +0000

Ah, beaten to the punch. And that’s ‘my wages’, of course, not ‘by wages’.