ON THE FLY How news media are making friends in the world of social networking

Twit news

This week several news sources, including the Guardian and Press Association, reported that Sarah Brown had overtaken Stephen Fry to become 'Britain's highest profile Twitter user’. The story was true in so far as she does now have more followers than Fry (currently standing at 788,049 to his 722,726), but embarrassingly there are several British Twitter users with many more followers, including Lily Allen who has 1.5 million.

The story of the rise of Sarah Brown is certainly an interesting one; the last year has seen her public profile completely transformed, and most commentators, including her predecessor Cherie Blair, have praised the way she has dealt with the press. The use of Twitter by political parties is also of interest particularly following Barack Obama’s successful use of social media and as Britain heads closer to an election. It is especially important for Labour as experts say that at least in this field they are currently ahead of the Tories. However, a story that combines these two elements should not forget the facts. For now at least Sarah Brown is not Britain’s highest profile Twitter user.

As to where she stands in the league table of British Twitter users it seems we still do not know. On Friday Metro produced a Top 10 list that placed Sarah Brown at number 7, but that too was flawed omitting BBC Five Live’s Richard Bacon who has over a million followers, so who knows where she really stands.

Originally published on 27 September at http://jes207.blogspot.com