Topline Twitter and the Mainstream Media Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism and The George Washington University s School of Media and Public Affairs MAINSTREAM MEDIA SAMPLE (Main newsfeed, analyzed during week of February 14-20, 2011. Exceptions are noted) Outlet No. of feeds Mainstream outlet presence on Twitter Mean number of followers per feed Total in sample day Mean number of per feed (one day) The Washington Post 98 10,285 1871 20 The New York Times 81 116,664 490 6 The Wall Street Journal 75 37,675 868 12 CNN 73 163,743 702 10 USA Today 41 24,242 406 10 Fox News 39 45,518 379 10 The Huffington Post 37 57,201 665 18 NPR 29 125,317 273 9 MSNBC 23 208,790 387 17 ABC News 15 366,985 191 15 The Arizona Republic 15 3,900 95 7 The Blade (Toledo) 12 3,354 177 15 The Daily Caller 1 28,677 22 22 Sector Mean No. feeds Mean number of followers per feed Total in sample day Mean number of per feed (one day) Major newspapers 74 47,217 909 12 Cable news 45 139,350 489 12 Network News 15 366,985 191 15 Radio 29 125,317 273 9 Online-only 19 42,939 344 20 Local newspapers 14 3,627 136 19 Note: Audit of feeds, followers and per day was conducted on October 6, 2011
from main feed, week of February 14-20, 2011 Source total The New York Times 391 13.20% The Washington Post 664 22.40% The Wall Street 104 Journal 3.50% USA Today 205 6.90% The Blade (Toledo) 184 6.20% The Arizona Republic 143 4.80% The Huffington Post 415 14% The Daily Caller 144 4.90% ABC News 316 10.60% CNN 90 3% MSNBC 33 1.10% Fox News 48 1.60% NPR 232 7.80% Total 2969 100% Big stories on Twitter Big story Percent of total Total 2619 100.0% Middle East Unrest 303 11.6% Economy 260 9.9% Obama admin. 83 3.2% Iran 48 1.8% Education 29 1.1% Grammy Awards 27 1.0% Healthcare 26 1.0% Giffords shooting 22 0.8% China 22 0.8% 2012 Presidential Election 19 0.7% Afghanistan 19 0.7% Mexican Drug War 11 0.4% Silvio Berlusconi Scandal 11 0.4% Scott Brown sex abuse confession 9 0.3% Pakistan 7 0.3%
Story Big stories, legacy media Percent of newshole Economy 31.0% Middle East Unrest Jan '11 22.0% Iran 4.0% Obama Administration 2.0% 2012 Presidential Election 2.0% Gabrielle Giffords Shooting 2.0% Grammy Awards 2.0% Mexican Drug War 1.0% Health Care Debate 1.0% Scott Brown Book/Sex Abuse 1.0% Note: Legacy media sample was modified to be comparable to the list of outlets represented on Twitter Informationgathering (N) Information gathering on Twitter Informationgathering as percent of total outlet Non (N) Non- as percent of total outlet Outlet The New York Times 1 0.3% 390 99.7% The Washington Post 19 2.9% 645 97.1% The Wall Street Journal 0 0.0% 104 100.0% USA Today 8 3.9% 197 96.1% The Blade (Toledo) 5 2.7% 179 97.3% The Arizona Republic 6 4.2% 137 95.8% The Huffington Post 12 2.9% 403 97.1% The Daily Caller 0 0.0% 144 100.0% ABC News 4 1.3% 312 98.7% CNN 1 1.1% 89 98.9% MSNBC 1 3.0% 32 97.0% Fox News 10 20.8% 38 79.2% NPR 2 0.9% 230 99.1%
Source of re Retweet source re all outlet that were re Source of re as percentage of all re Own news organization 247 8.3% 89.5% 7 Another news organization 0.2% 2.5% Other 11 0.4% 4.0% Unclear 11 0.4% 4.0% Total 276 9.3% 100.0% 2693 Not applicable (not a retweet) 90.7% all that were re re Yes 276 9.3% No 2693 90.7% Total 2969 100.0% Source that were re Retweet data by outlet that were re that re that re The New York Times 0.0% 391 100.0% The Washington Post 21 3.2% 643 96.8% The Wall Street Journal 6 5.8% 98 94.2% USA Today 9 4.4% 196 95.6% The Blade (Toledo) 23 12.5% 161 87.5% The Arizona Republic 20 14.0% 123 86.0% The Huffington Post 98 23.6% 317 76.4% The Daily Caller 2 1.4% 142 98.6% ABC News 61 19.3% 255 80.7% CNN 2 2.2% 88 97.8% MSNBC 9 27.3% 24 72.7% Fox News 21 43.8% 27 56.3% NPR 4 1.7% 228 98.3% Total 276 9.3% 2693 90.7%
Traffic destination Where drive traffic containing link all all traffic-driving Own news site 2756 92.8% 98.6% Another news site 26 0.9% 0.9% Other link 12 0.4% 0.4% N/A (site doesn't send traffic/link broken) 2 0.1% 0.1% Total 2796 94.2% 100.0% Source containing links Driving traffic by outlet with links without links without links The New York Times 387 99.0% 4 1.0% The Washington Post 656 98.8% 8 1.2% The Wall Street Journal 96 92.3% 8 7.7% USA Today 201 98.0% 4 2.0% The Blade (Toledo) 129 70.1% 55 29.9% The Arizona Republic 121 84.6% 22 15.4% The Huffington Post 410 98.8% 5 1.2% The Daily Caller 143 99.3% 1.7% ABC News 279 88.3% 37 11.7% CNN 84 93.3% 6 6.7% MSNBC 30 90.9% 3 9.1% Fox News 31 64.6% 17 35.4% NPR 229 98.7% 3 1.3% Total 2796 94.2% 173 5.8%
Use of hashtags Source containing hashtags containing hashtags without hashtags without hashtags The New York Times 6 1.5% 385 98.5% The Washington Post 142 21.4% 522 78.6% The Wall Street 4 3.8% 100 96.2% Journal USA Today 19 9.3% 186 90.7% The Blade (Toledo) 81 44.0% 103 56.0% The Arizona Republic 56 39.2% 87 60.8% The Huffington Post 20 4.8% 395 95.2% The Daily Caller 82 56.9% 62 43.1% ABC News 63 19.9% 253 80.1% CNN 11 12.2% 79 87.8% MSNBC 2 6.1% 31 93.9% Fox News 24 50.0% 24 50.0% NPR 1.4% 231 99.6%
REPORTER SAMPLE (s with highest number of followers at each outlet, analyzed during week of February 14-20, 2011.) that were used for information-gathering use of Twitter for information-gathering that were used for not used for not used for 12 2.9% 407 97.1% that were re Top-followed reporters and re that were re that re that re 45 10.7% 374 89.3% Source of re Retweet source re all re Own news organization 4 1.0% Another news 6 organization 1.4% Other 20 4.8% Unclear 15 3.6% Total 374 89.3%
Information-gathering on Twitter by reporter that were noninformation gathering percentage of that David Pogue 0 0.0% 21 100% Arianna Huffington 2 3.8% 51 96.20% Steven Goff 3 3.0% 98 97.0% Kara Swisher 0 0.0% 98 100.0% Tucker Carlson 0 0.0% 5 100.0% George Stephanopoulos 0 0.0% 13 100.0% Whitney Matheson 3 15.8% 16 84.2% Jack Gray 0 0.0% 7 100.0% Rachel Maddow 0 0.0% 3 100.0% Megyn Kelly 0 0.0% 4 100.0% Ryan Autullo 0 0.0% 3 100.0% Paul Coro 1 1.6% 62 98.4% Scott Simon 3 10.3% 26 89.7% Total 12 2.9% 407 97.1%
use of Twitter to share personal that were personal that were personal that were not personal that personal David Pogue 12 57.1% 9 42.9% Arianna Huffington 33 62.3% 20 37.7% Steven Goff 2 2.0% 99 98.0% Kara Swisher 69 70.4% 29 29.6% Tucker Carlson 1 20.0% 4 80.0% George Stephanopoulos 1 7.7% 12 92.3% Whitney Matheson 16 84.2% 3 15.8% Jack Gray 5 71.4% 2 28.6% Rachel Maddow 0.0% 3 100.0% Megyn Kelly 0.0% 4 100.0% Ryan Autullo 2 66.7% 1 33.3% Paul Coro 8 12.7% 55 87.3% Scott Simon 15 51.7% 14 48.3% Total 164 39.1% 255 60.9% use of Twitter for retweeting that were re that were re that were not re that re David Pogue 2 9.5% 19 90.5% Arianna Huffington 9 17.0% 44 83.0% Steven Goff 19 18.8% 82 81.2% Kara Swisher 0.0% 98 100.0% Tucker Carlson 0.0% 5 100.0% George Stephanopoulos 0.0% 13 100.0% Whitney Matheson 1 5.3% 18 94.7% Jack Gray 0.0% 7 100.0% Rachel Maddow 1 33.3% 2 66.7% Megyn Kelly 0.0% 4 100.0% Ryan Autullo 1 33.3% 2 66.7% Paul Coro 10 15.9% 53 84.1% Scott Simon 2 6.9% 27 93.1% Total 45 10.7% 374 89.3%
HEALTH REPORTER SAMPLE (Analyzed during week of February 14-20, 2011.) Total by health reporters total health reporter Tara Parker-Hope 15 5.8% Patricia Fitzgerald 5 1.9% Jennifer Larue Huget 19 7.4% Katherine Hobson 1 0.4% Richard Besser 43 16.7% Liz Szabo 80 31.0% Sanjay Gupta 3 1.2% Melissa Dahl 29 11.2% Manny Alvarez 26 10.1% Ken Alltucker 1 0.4% Scott Hensley 36 14.0% Total 258 100.0% Health reporters and personal on Twitter that were personal that were nonanecdote percentage of that personal Tara Parker-Hope 0.0% 15 100.0% Patricia Fitzgerald 1 20.0% 4 80.0% Jennifer Larue Huget 2 10.5% 17 89.5% Katherine Hobson 0.0% 1 100.0% Richard Besser 23 53.5% 20 46.5% Liz Szabo 17 21.3% 63 78.8% Sanjay Gupta 2 66.7% 1 33.3% Melissa Dahl 9 31.0% 20 69.0% Manny Alvarez 0.0% 26 100.0% Ken Alltucker 0.0% 1 100.0% Scott Hensley 18 50.0% 18 50.0% Total 72 27.9% 186 72.1%
Health reporters and information-gathering on Twitter that were noninformation gathering percentage of that Tara Parker-Hope 1 6.7% 14 93.3% Patricia Fitzgerald 1 20.0% 4 80.0% Jennifer Larue Huget 4 21.1% 15 78.9% Katherine Hobson 0.0% 1 100.0% Richard Besser 5 11.6% 38 88.4% Liz Szabo 0.0% 80 100.0% Sanjay Gupta 0.0% 3 100.0% Melissa Dahl 3 10.3% 26 89.7% Manny Alvarez 1 3.8% 25 96.2% Ken Alltucker 0.0% 1 100.0% Scott Hensley 0.0% 36 100.0% Total 15 5.8% 243 94.2% Health reporters and retweeting that were re that re that re that were re Tara Parker-Hope 0.0% 15 100.0% Patricia Fitzgerald 1 20.0% 4 80.0% Jennifer Larue Huget 6 31.6% 13 68.4% Katherine Hobson 1 100.0% 0.0% Richard Besser 1 2.3% 42 97.7% Liz Szabo 24 30.0% 56 70.0% Sanjay Gupta 0.0% 3 100.0% Melissa Dahl 15 51.7% 14 48.3% Manny Alvarez 1 3.8% 25 96.2% Ken Alltucker 0.0% 1 100.0% Scott Hensley 7 19.4% 29 80.6% Total 56 21.7% 202 78.3%