Friday, February 20, 2009

Top 25 UK Political Blog Twitterers

This list is compiled using the latest available information on the number of people following each blogger's Twitter feed as of 10pm on 19 February. However, as this is the first attempt, please do let me know in the comments if I have missed anyone. If you click on each person's name, you will be led to their Twitter feed. If you want to follow them, just click on the FOLLOW button.

There are 11 right of centre bloggers in the Top 25, 8 left of centre, 2 LibDems, 1 Green and 3 non aligned.

1. Tom Watson 2065
Labour MP & blogger

2. Iain Dale 2061
Modesty forbids

3. Derek Draper 1686
Don't tempt me

4. Guido Fawkes 1183
Anarcho blogger

5. Alastair Campbell 1180
Former spinmeister & new entrant to the new media

6. Andrew Ian Dodge 1031
Libertarian blogger

7. The Fabians 869
Sunder Katwala & the Next left blog

8. John Prescott 822
Old bruiser and newbie new media entrant

9. James Cleverly 778
Tory GLA member & blogger

10. Lynne Featherstone 681
LibDem MP & blogger

11. Steve Green 652
Right wing blogger at the Daily Referendum blog

12. Dave Hill 635
Left of centre blogger on London politics

13. Paul Dennett 580
Unaligned blogger who blogs at A Progressive Viewpoint

14. Mick Fealty 522
Blogs at Brassneck & Slugger O'Toole

15. Jeremy Jacobs 454
Right of centre supporting communications specialist

16. Danvers Baillieu 448
Tory blogger

17. Tom Harris 417
Labour MP & blogger

18. Craig Elder 390
Web editor & Webcameron supremo at CCHQ

19. Will Howells 369
Works at LibDem HQ & writes for LibDem Voice

20. Sadiq Khan 361
Labour MP & Minister

21. Scott Redding 348
Green Party blogger from Coventry

22. Tim Montgomerie 346
Creator of ConservativeHome

23. Dave Cross 346
Blogs at davorg

24. Charlie Beckett 245
Director of POLIS at the LSE

25. Ed Vaizey 245
Tory MP for Wantage and blogger

26. Devil's Kitchen 243
Libertarian swear blogger

Note: I am updating this list throughout the day as I am notified of twitterers I had missed.
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36 comments:

  1. Not a sheepFebruary 20, 2009 8:52 am

    Surely LibDems are left of centre, if not where is "the centre"?

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 20, 2009 9:04 am

    ahem, I have 444 followers on Twitter and a "right of centre" blog (albeit not frequently updated of late - although maybe making this list will encourage me!).

    @danversbaillieu

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jason BrownFebruary 20, 2009 9:18 am

    How disappointing I just fall short of the top 20 political bloggers on twitter with 224 followers, it brings back memories of end of term GCSE French report which regularly said “could do better.” If anyone wants to follow me, and the goings on at the Whipped Senseless blog, then head over to twitter.com/Politics_UK.

    As an aside I would have thought ether you Iain or Guido would have been top of the list, way to go Tom.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Guido FawkesFebruary 20, 2009 9:36 am

    I don't actually Twitter, the blog's headline feed is broadcast via Twitter.

    Please don't tweet me in expectation of a reply or even to be read.

    I use a peer-2-peer system of individualised social media with feature rich media functionality far more sophisticated than Twitter.

    It is called email.

    ReplyDelete
  5. scott reddingFebruary 20, 2009 9:58 am

    I have 348 followers, and a Green Party blog for the last few years ... the twitter address is @CovGreenParty

    ReplyDelete
  6. Old BEFebruary 20, 2009 10:06 am

    Twitter is the biggest waste of time since Facebook.

    ReplyDelete
  7. scott reddingFebruary 20, 2009 10:10 am

    You've put my twitter address as covwatch.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Iain DaleFebruary 20, 2009 10:16 am

    Oops. Corrected.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Events dear boy, eventsFebruary 20, 2009 10:21 am

    Follow me on Twitter, then I may make one of Iain's lists one day!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Sunder KatwalaFebruary 20, 2009 10:37 am

    Hi Iain

    "thefabians" (which runs our nextleft blog posts, as well our as twittering from events, etc) has 868 followers on twitter

    http://twitter.com/thefabians

    ReplyDelete
  11. OldrightieFebruary 20, 2009 10:38 am

    Does being a blogtwitter count!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Iain DaleFebruary 20, 2009 10:41 am

    Sunder, I'm really only including individuals rather than group twitters.

    ReplyDelete
  13. AdrianFebruary 20, 2009 10:48 am

    Prezza has 823 followers.

    ReplyDelete
  14. subrosaFebruary 20, 2009 10:50 am

    Iain what about Scotland? Have we got independence already and I haven't noticed? lol

    Can I promote myself? http://subrosa-blonde.blogspot.com/

    I did twitter you and also suggested http://advancedmediawatch.blogspot.com.

    Both are pro-independence blogs written by different generations.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Bond007February 20, 2009 10:55 am

    Iain - can you put some totals in on Conservative and Labour bloggers?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Iain DaleFebruary 20, 2009 11:00 am

    Subrosa, they may be excellent blogs, but they have bugger all to do with Twitter.

    Bond007, I would if I understood the question.

    ReplyDelete
  17. scott reddingFebruary 20, 2009 11:15 am

    Oh, and Dave Cross needs to be corrected to, he's on twitter @davorg

    ReplyDelete
  18. PaulFebruary 20, 2009 11:19 am

    As of 11:15 a.m. today I have 580 followers on Twitter.

    You've listed my blog as "Right of Centre" on the Total Politics directory but I think of myself as unaligned really...

    @pauldennett
    http://aprogressiveviewpoint.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. ColmFebruary 20, 2009 11:31 am

    @grantshapps has 498

    ReplyDelete
  20. Matt WardmanFebruary 20, 2009 11:34 am

    @mattwardman 215
    @markpack 240

    ReplyDelete
  21. AnonymousFebruary 20, 2009 11:40 am

    Sorry to rain on everybody's parade but I do not give a flying wotsit about 'twitter'.

    This is all one boig pathetic step too far - not leas 'my ones bigger than your ones' rubbish.

    You can follow yourselves down the drain as far as I am concerned.

    Its one thing to have an opinion and publish it - but all this 'hey look at me I'm brushing my teeth' shite is just appalling.

    I mean who the hell cares just what the wotsit the cheap nasty odious misogynistic barsteward Prescott is doing?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Sunder KatwalaFebruary 20, 2009 1:47 pm

    Iain

    OK, its your list, so the Fabians will try to get over your twittering us offside (Russian linesman?).

    But what is interesting is that your top 7 contains three Labour bloggers who weren't (I think) either blogging or twittering six weeks ago.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Iain DaleFebruary 20, 2009 1:59 pm

    Sunder, I have had a rethink and I am putting you in as most of your Twitters so seem to be related to the blog.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Dave CrossFebruary 20, 2009 2:01 pm

    I twitter at davorg, but I blog at davblog. It's confusing, I know :-)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Sunder KatwalaFebruary 20, 2009 2:45 pm

    Iain

    That's rather kind of you. Your list now captures another difference between left and right.

    You have four of the first five Labour and left twitterers who have a pre-internet presence, fame and/or notoreity (Prescott, Campbell, Fabians and of course Mr Draper) and are now (and recently) trying to translate that to a new online presence, along with a couple (Tom Watson, Tom Harris) who while they have been MPs for some time are well known particularly because of their commitment to internet politics and engagement.

    By contrast, your right-wing names (including yourself, as well as Guido, Tim Montomerie) are fairly thought of as political presences or 'brands' (or whatever the accurate term would be that) that have been developed to prominence primarily online (though that influence obviously then extends from the internet into eg party debates). In some cases, obviously there are grey areas too, but it does seem to me a difference between your right and left lists.

    So perhaps this tells us something, though I don't know what it is.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Sunder KatwalaFebruary 20, 2009 2:58 pm

    Iain,

    By the way, we're at thefabians: you've currently linked in the main article somebody else, who confusingly has fabians. (Obviously not very urgent, and I probably won't, as it happens, be setting Schillings on them, but thought useful to flag it).

    ReplyDelete
  27. Jim JeppsFebruary 20, 2009 6:29 pm

    I notice george galloway has 412 followers

    http://twitter.com/georgegalloway

    ReplyDelete
  28. Iain DaleFebruary 20, 2009 6:33 pm

    But he doesn't have a blog, does he?!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Jim JeppsFebruary 20, 2009 7:39 pm

    Thankfully - no :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Victor, NW KentFebruary 20, 2009 7:59 pm

    Is Twitter a bit like collecting trading cars - a totally useless and instantly obsolete exercise?

    I don't even have a camera in my mobile phone and couldn't care less about that either.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Alberto NardelliFebruary 21, 2009 11:09 am

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  32. OBC NewsFebruary 21, 2009 11:27 am

    I really don't think many people will be 'Twittering' 2 or 3 years from now. Blue Eyes (10:06) is spot on.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Dominic CampbellFebruary 21, 2009 3:25 pm

    Nice to see you've embraced twitter so wholeheartedly after you were so "amused" by my use at:

    http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2008/06/there-is-no-such-thing-as-privacy.html

    ;-)

    BTW you might also want to include:

    http://twitter.com/leaderlistens
    http://twitter.com/cllrtweeps

    And reference:

    http://tweetminster.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  34. Richard GadsdenFebruary 22, 2009 8:00 pm

    I think this just shows how small the UK political community is.

    Wil Wheaton (ex-Star Trek actor) has 120,720 followers, Stephen Fry has 221,674 - just picking from people I follow.

    ReplyDelete
  35. PlatoFebruary 24, 2009 5:50 pm

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Obnoxio The ClownJuly 12, 2009 10:14 am

    Er ... I have 1586 followers, Iain ...

    ReplyDelete