Where do MPs get their news?

“Influence” isn’t just about size and the number of followers one has. Who follows whom, relevancy and context are just as important, if not more. With this in mind we thought it would be interesting to have a look at which journalists and media accounts on Twitter do MPs most follow - who do MPs pay attention to the most within UK media?

Here are the 20 UK journalists most followed by MPs:

1 - @ITVLauraK - is followed by 222 MPs

2 - @paulwaugh - 198

3 - @TimMontgomerie - 164

4 - @afneil - 156

5 - @Kevin_Maguire - 155

6 - @GuidoFawkes - 154

6 - @SamCoatesTimes - 154

8 - @adamboultonSKY - 152

9 - @frasernelson - 151

10 - @MichaelLCrick - 149

10 - @andrewrawnsley - 149

12 - @MichaelWhite - 142

13 - @cathynewman - 141

13 - @benedictbrogan - 141

15 - @JohnRentoul - 134

15 - @Dannythefink 134

17 - @Peston - 131

18 - @MirrorJames - 126

19 - @jonsnowC4 - 124

20 - @EvanHD - 119

And the 20 most followed media accounts:

1 - @BBCr4today - 170

2 - @BBCPolitics - 164

3 - @daily_politics - 162

4 - @BBCBreaking - 159

5 - @BBCNewsnight - 152

6 - @GdnPolitics - 144

7 - @guardiannews - 128

8 - @SkyNewsBreak - 121

9 - @ftwestminster - 117

10 - @SkyNews - 116

11 - @bbcquestiontime - 106

12 - @Channel4News - 104

13 - @Sun_Politics - 91

14 - @Spectator_CH - 84

15 - @PrivateEyeNews - 83

16 - @NewStatesman - 80

17 - @TelePolitics - 79

18 - @spectator - 78 

19 - @SkyNewsPolitics - 77

20 - @ST_Newsroom - 72

Three things that are immediately apparent: Journalists tend to be more followed by MPs than media accounts, while among the media accounts, the BBC occupies the top-five places, and finally many high profile bloggers are in the top positions.

What do you think of the numbers?

If you would like to have access to the data or know more about the numbers beyond the top-20, drop us a line or tweet @tweetminster.

Posted at Fri, Jun 22nd 2012, 08:40
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Covering the Egyptian election with BBC Arabic

We’re delighted to be working with BBC Arabic in using the electionista API as part of their coverage of the Egyptian election, bringing together all the Tweets of key accounts, the links they’re sharing most and trends all in one page - you can check it out here.

With electionista we’re now covering 111 countries and 58 languages, following all the Tweets from politicians, governments, political parties and politics media; the links they’re sharing the most; and all the trends shaping a country’s political debate.

To find out about upcoming elections check out our calendar, and if you’d like to explore ways to work together drop us a Tweet @electionista.

Posted at Wed, Jun 13th 2012, 17:12
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