It is estimated there are some five million users of Twitter in the UK but this figure has never been fully accredited as far as I can determine. It is also estimated the fall off rate, or lapsed rate, is quite high, as much as 40% in the first three months. Many register and fail to follow through with a good Twitter programme for tweets, friends and followers. So how big is the GM twitter population?
To estimate the Manchester population, we can get some assistance from ranking sites such as http://twitaholic.com. Globally, we discover that Lady Gaga has over eleven million followers and is following 143,000 people. That must keep her social media team pretty occupied. More so Barack Obama having to track 700,000 people tweeting and being followed by 8.7 million people. That must be quite the challenge for the SM team, the FBI and the CIA.
The http://twitaholic.com. search for Manchester produces a top one hundred list which is neither clean or up to date. It also includes media and sports stars which we would wish to eradicate from the pro.manchester #GMTweetmap. It provides some useful guidelines and names for inclusion but suggests only seven hundred followers are needed to get into the top one hundred.
A better site for purpose is http://followerwonk.com. A search for Manchester produces a return of over 60,000 twitter users (60,609). This compares well with Liverpool (28,978), Glasgow, (27,808), Leeds (23,457), Bristol (22,636) and Edinburgh (19,241). Manchester is clearly the Twitter capital outside of London. [London has 369,033 users].
If the UK gross Twitter population is five million, the Greater Manchester estimate would be around 200,000 maximum. Allowing for Home Counties bias, and a high wastage rate, the http://followerwonk.com figure is a great start point and represents a fantastic sample for analysis.
Analysing the data, 80% of twitter users in Manchester have less than 150 followers. To be in the top 20% you would need an average of 685 followers and over eleven hundred to be in the top 10%. Yes it is true, I have undertaken that analysis. The results make a great long tail profile. (It's just pareto after all).
As for the @pro.manchester #GMTweetmap, the results can be downloaded Download @promanchester #GmTweetmap Individuals. We rank the top 250 key Social Media gurus in the city. There appears to be a near 60:40 male:female ratio. To get on the map follow @jkaonline. The automated web site will follow in due course. Check it out. Are you on the map?
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The views expressed are my own and in no way reflect pro.manchester policy. In no way should the comments be considered as investment advice or guidelines or reflect political bias. UK Economics news and analysis : no politics, no dogma, no polemics, just facts. JKA is a visiting professor at MMU Business School, an economist and specialist in Corporate Strategy, educated at LSE, London Business School with a PhD from Manchester Metropolitan University.
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