Newspapers that Twitter: By the numbers
I am fascinated by Twitter; I can’t explain why. I was a little surprised by some of the stats in today’s New York Times story about Twitter: “Nearly 1.2 million users visited Twitter in December, a 223 percent increase over the same month the previous year, according to comScore Inc.” And Hitwise, which measures site traffic, put Twitter at 765th most popular in January, out of 6,000 social networks. But that doesn’t include people who access Twitter via text message or instant message or third-party applications; that number would be much higher.
See? Fascinating.
Since the Post-Dispatch started Twittering regularly, I began keeping track of which newspapers Twitter and how many followers they have. Most remarkable is the percentage of change each month. Newspaper circulation is dropping like a rock. But a 30 percent increase in Twitter “subscribers”? Not unrealistic.
NEWSPAPERS ON TWITTER
| Newspaper | Dec. 14 | Jan. 15 | Feb. 14 | 1 month change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham News | @birmingham_news |
6
|
13
|
18
|
38.46%
|
| Charlotte Observer | @theobserver |
26
|
36
|
51
|
41.67%
|
| Chicago Sun-Times | @suntimes |
|
|
15
|
|
| Chicago Tribune | @chicagotribune |
7
|
95
|
103
|
8.42%
|
| Flint Journal | @flintjournal |
6
|
9
|
13
|
44.44%
|
| Globe Gazette | @globegazette |
21
|
23
|
24
|
4.35%
|
| Knoxville News Sentinel | @knoxnews |
73
|
78
|
84
|
7.69%
|
| Lancaster News | @lancasternews |
|
|
12
|
|
| Lawrence Journal World | @ljworld |
|
|
30
|
|
| Los Angeles Times | @latimesbreaking |
|
|
30
|
|
| @latimesbiz |
|
|
30
|
|
|
| @latimesent |
|
|
18
|
|
|
| @latimesfires |
|
|
190
|
|
|
| @latimeslocal |
|
|
35
|
|
|
| @latimesmost |
|
|
18
|
|
|
| @latimesnational |
|
|
31
|
|
|
| @latimesports |
|
|
23
|
|
|
| @latimestravel |
|
|
39
|
|
|
| @latimesworld |
|
|
18
|
|
|
| Nashua Telegraph | @nashuatelegraph |
83
|
95
|
105
|
10.53%
|
| New York Times | @nytimes |
1,472
|
1,669
|
1,877
|
12.46%
|
| @nyt_arts |
|
|
260
|
|
|
| @nyt_biz |
|
|
270
|
|
|
| @nyt_books |
|
|
241
|
|
|
| @nyt_food |
|
|
187
|
|
|
| @nyt_health |
|
|
136
|
|
|
| @nyt_metro |
|
|
118
|
|
|
| @nyt_movies |
|
|
256
|
|
|
| @nyt_national |
|
|
228
|
|
|
| @nyt_politics |
|
|
212
|
|
|
| @nyt_science |
|
|
241
|
|
|
| @nyt_style |
|
|
167
|
|
|
| @nyt_travel |
|
|
143
|
|
|
| @nyt_weather |
|
|
72
|
|
|
| @nyt_world |
|
|
262
|
|
|
| The Oregonian | @oregonian |
156
|
182
|
215
|
18.13%
|
| @oregonianbiz |
|
|
35
|
|
|
| @oregoniansports |
|
|
46
|
|
|
| @oregoniantraff |
|
|
38
|
|
|
| Orlando Sentinel | @orlandosentinel |
210
|
347
|
358
|
3.17%
|
| @themeparks |
|
|
44
|
|
|
| Plain Dealer | @plaindealer |
|
|
3
|
|
| Post-Standard | @poststandard |
|
3
|
12
|
300%
|
| Red Eye | @redeyechicago |
85
|
96
|
100
|
4.17%
|
| Sioiux City Journal | @scj |
|
|
1
|
|
| St. Louis Post-Dispatch | @stltoday |
5
|
31
|
51
|
64.52%
|
| @hwy40 |
|
|
104
|
|
|
| @pdvoxpop |
|
|
47
|
|
|
| The Star-Ledger | @nj_news |
|
9
|
13
|
44.44%
|
| @nj_business |
|
|
9
|
|
|
| @nj_giants |
|
|
46
|
|
|
| Star Tribune | @startribune |
24
|
36
|
35
|
-2.78%
|
| The Times of Northwest Indiana | @nwi |
27
|
28
|
28
|
0%
|
| @nwiprepsports |
|
|
47
|
|
|
| Tribune Star | @tribstar |
|
2
|
4
|
100%
|
Notes: I have added newspapers to the list as I discover they’re on Twitter. Usually, that’s soon after they join. Except, for some reason, the Los Angeles Times, which I’d missed. I started with one account per newspaper, but now I’ve opted to be more inclusive — hence the inconsistent numbers for the New York Times. Know of a paper using Twitter that isn’t on the list? Please send it to me.
This post is part of the Carnival of Journalism. Check out the shenanigans, hosted this month at Innovation in College Media.
- Posted by Erica Smith at 02:35 pm / Permalink for this post
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This list is awesome!!!
Cool list, but i wonder how often they are updated.
Glad you asked, John! That list is coming next. It looks like most papers use Twitterfeed, so they aren’t actively posting.
I thought twitterfeed only sent tweets to blogs, not vice versa.
Besides, those I checked were only linking to stories…for which they already have RSS feeds, and email alerts. I wonder if the papers are using Twitter in the best way.
OK, you inspired us. The Des Moines Register now has a couple twitter feeds:
http://twitter.com/DMRegister
http://twitter.com/DMRsports
So you know, the “official” Chicago Tribune Twitter feed can be reached at http://twitter.com/coloneltribune. The other Twitter feed isn’t affiliated with the Tribune in any way.
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