Scotland's Top Political Tweeters

In January this year I put together a post containing a list of the top Scottish political tweeters. 

Thanks to Total Politics' Blog awards, lists are back in vogue, and so I thought that it would be a good time to revisit the issue. It's been a busy 9 months in politics, and I wanted to see how usage and take up of Twitter had changed over this time, just ahead of the return of the Holyrood and Westminster parliaments after their summer break. 


There are a couple of notable changes in the last 9 months. 

There has been significant growth in the number of Twitter followers engaged with Scottish political figures since the beginning of 2010. The Top 10 in January had a total of around 12 thousand followers, while the updated list has over 24 thousand, a significant increase. 


Secondly, the top tweeters from the SNP  list and the second placed tweeter from the Tories have dropped out this particular race. Jeff Breslin (aka SNP Tactical Voting)  is no longer eligible as he's moved on to pastures new, while the Conservative's former Westminster candidate Alberto Costa's Twitter account has been discontinued. In there place there have been a number of new entries, in particular from MPs who stood for election esrlier this year. 

The rankings below are based on the number of followers on the afternoon of Saturday 4th September 2010. I've considered accounts which have a broadly political outlook, and are based in, or mostly about, Scotland. The number in brackets are the number of followers each user has at the time I checked. Those which didn't make the list last time round are marked as (NEW). I've compiled each party list on the basis of what I understand the general politics of each account to be.

All the twits below (and many, many more) feature in my Scottish Politics list which you can find on my Twitter page.

+++UPDATED+++
I've now added Kristofer Keane to the Greens' list and Lawrence Mills to the Labour list. Sorry for the omissions.

SNP

1. SNP Official 1233 (456)

2. Angus Robertson MP 661 (NEW)

3. Osama Saeed 521 (296) 
4. Subrosa 493 (325)  ++SEE COMMENTS BELOW+++
5. Holyrood Patter 449 (343)

Scottish Labour

1.Tom Harris MP 5226 (2848)

2. Douglas Alexander MP 4700 (NEW)
3. Eric Joyce MP 2057 (1156)
4. Lawrence Mills 1706 (NEW) +++UPDATED+++
5. Scottish Labour 1514 (859)

6. Jim Murphy MP 1433 (NEW) 

Scottish Liberal Democrats

1. Jo Swinson MP 4039 (2672)

2. Charles Kennedy MP 2776 (NEW) 

3. Danny Alexander MP 2406 (NEW)
4. Andy Reeves 1494 (1016)
5. Caron Lindsay 1301 (802)

Scottish Conservatives

1. David Mundell MP 978 (622)

2. Iain McGill 893 (NEW) 

3. David McLetchie MSP 253 (NEW) 

4. Iain Gibson 226 (NEW)
5. Ross Thomson 163 (114)

Scottish Greens

1. Patrick Harvie MSP 1091 (708)

2. James McKenzie 909 (526)

3. Kate Joester 744 (455)
4. Kristofer Keane 581 (NEW) +++UPDATED+++

5. Chas Booth 544 (359) 

6. Cowrin 491 (NEW)

Scottish Media

1. HolyroodDaily 1249 (345)

2. Newsnight Scotland 941 (NEW) 

3. Joan McAlpine 876 (401)
4. Severin Carrell 699 (283)
5. Torquil Crichton 680 (338)

Which makes the final Top Ten list:

1.     Tom Harris MP                      5226    (2848)

2.      Douglas Alexander MP           4700    (NEW)

3.      Jo Swinson MP                    4039    (2672)

4.     Charles Kennedy MP              2776    (NEW) 

5.      Danny Alexander MP             2406    (NEW)

6.      Eric Joyce MP                      2057    (1156)

7.      Scottish Labour                    1514    (859)

8.      Andy Reeves                        1494    (1016)

9.      Jim Murphy MP                      1433    (NEW) 

10.   Caron Lindsay                       1301    (802)

Discuss. 


(I may have missed someone out. I’m sorry if I have, so if you leave me a comment, send me a tweet or DM I’ll happily update the list.)

A beginners guide to political tweeting

It took me a while to put together my list of Top Scottish Political Tweeters this week. While I was going through them, a few stood out as good, some were not good, and a few were just plain ugly.

So with that in mind, here's my unasked for advice to potential (or the large number of lapsed) Scottish political tweeters.

First - the basics. My top tips for political tweeters who are starting out are:

• Tweet often, at least once or twice a day.
• If in doubt, make your first tweet about what you did/are doing today, and your second one your view on the big issue of the day.
• Follow others to learn (but don’t just follow people you agree with
• DON'T TWEET IN CAPITAL LETTERS. SERIOUSLY

Still thinking about it, but not sure why you should bother?

Using Twitter can be like gaining super human hearing – you can pick up everything that is said about you or the things that matter to you. With a couple of clicks you can overhear individuals praising your latest policy, moaning about poor services or just expressing their opinions on the big issues of the day.

This is the sort of information that political parties (and private companies and organisations) pay huge sums of cash for and it's yours for free just by typing your name/your party's name/today's issue into the search box on Twitter, or using a free service like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite.

If you get stuck or want more information, Mashable’s guide to Twitter is clear and informative, especially for beginners.

The other main objection is the good old “What if I say something stupid/unpopular and everyone found out and wouldn't this be terrible?” argument. Well, you're right. But if you just try to be a grown up about it all you should be OK.

Think before you tweet. I know we all sometimes think stuff in the blissful haven of our own minds that if we said it out loud would make us sound weird or get us in trouble. Being real or authentic isn't the same as being crass or stupid. So just say it out loud before you tweet. (Or pretend to say it out loud if you're on the bus, etc.) This will definately help prevent disaster.

Happy Tweeting.

Who's Who in Scottish Political Tweetery

Both Tweetminster and Iain Dale have recently put together their own analysis of Twitter use in UK politics.

But who’s who in the Scottish Twittersphere?

Take up of twitter by elected politicians is still relatively low, while the number of regular users is smaller again. This is reflected in the fact that Iain Dale's UK lists of the Top 20 Labour and Conservative Tweeters only contains one Scottish-based entry - Tom Harris MP.

So with no ado, here's my back of a fag packet analyis of Who's Who in Scottish political tweetery. The rankings are based on the number of followers on the 27th Jan. The number in brackets are the number of followers at the time I checked.

All the twits below (and many, many more) feature in my Scottish Politics list which you can find on my Twitter page.

UPDATED: thanks to James, I've revised the Green and Media lists:

SNP

1. SNP Tactical Voting (575) 2. SNP Official (456) 3. Holyrood Patter (343) 4. Subrosa (325) 5. Osama Saeed (296)

Scottish Labour

1.Tom Harris MP (2848) 2. Eric Joyce MP (1156) 3. Lord George Foulkes MSP (859) 4. Scottish Labour (859) 5. Kezia Dugdale (815)

Scottish Liberal Democrats

1. Jo Swinson MP (2672) 2. Andy Reeves (1016) 3. Stephen Glenn (893) 4. Caron Lindsay (802) 5. Willie Rennie MP (495)

Scottish Conservatives

1. David Mundell MP (622) 2. Alberto Costa (597) 3. Ross Thomson (114)

4. Cameron Rose (81) 5. Richard Cook (66)

Scottish Greens

1.NaomiMC (761)

2. Patrick Harvie MSP (708)

3. James McKenzie (526)

4. Kate Joester (455)

5. Adam Ramsey (381)

Scottish Media

1. Joan McAlpine (401)

2. HolyroodDaily (345) 3. Torquil Crichton (338) 4. The Steamie (302) 5. Severin Carrell (283)

And last but not least...

Scottish Government (1068)

Which makes the final Top Ten list, by my reckoning:

1. Tom Harris MP (2848)

2. Jo Swinson MP (2672)

3. Eric Joyce MP (1156)

4. Andy Reeves (1016)

5. Stephen Glenn (893)

6. Lord George Foulkes MSP (859)

7. Scottish Labour (859)

8. Kezia Dugdale (815)

9. Caron Lindsay (802)

10. NaomiMC (761)

(I may have missed someone out. I’m sorry if I have, so if you leave me a comment or send me a tweet or DM I’ll happily update the list.)