Fewer than a quarter of U.S. adult Internet users say they are active on Twitter, but tweets are influential, particularly in media and politics.
A new study claims to show which journalists and political pundits are most likely to shape the national conversation.
StatSocial, a social media analytics company, is out with a new list of “most influential political journalists” on Twitter. After looking at 3,000 journalists and measuring the engagement of their respective followers, StatSocial came up with the most influential 1,969 political journalists and bloggers on Twitter.
“It’s more about how you use Twitter,” said Audrey Hungerman, head of marketing at StatSocial. She said the key to becoming one of the top most influential political journalists is in sharing the type of content political junkies want to consume.
“Mainly, you follow someone because they’re tweeting content you’re interested in,” Hungerman told the Washington Examiner. “The content they share should be about politics and what interests you.”
But the real key to Twitter influence? Have your own TV show.
The five most influential political journalists on the list are all TV anchors. Anderson Cooper of CNN ranks No. 1. He is followed by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, CNN’s Jake Tapper, ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
Broken down by ideology, the top five journalists with clout among liberals are Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Vox’s Ezra Klein, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington and FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver. The top five for conservatives are Jake Tapper, Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity, columnist Michelle Malkin and Fox News host Dana Perino.
The list of influential journos features more liberals than conservatives. A possible explanation, according to the study, is that conservatives are not as interested in Twitter, or perhaps that conservatism is more fragmented into separate niches.
Other liberal journalists with big sway on Twitter: New York Times columnist Paul Krugman (No. 8 on the list) MSNBC’s Chris Matthews (25) and veteran ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer (27). Among conservatives: Media mogul Glenn Beck (8), Drudge Report founder Matt Drudge (11) and author Ann Coulter (13).
