UK newsbrands hit the headlines on social media

@Telegraph@MailOnline

@guardian @DailyMirror@Independent

@EveningStandard

@thetimes

Analysis of date from

Headlines

• UK newsbrands drove 133.5 million social media actions* in the first five months of 2014

• Facebook: 57.6 million article likes, 30.2 million comments, 30.1 million shares

• 14.2 million Twitter shares• 827k LinkedIn shares• 61k pins on Pinterest

• Facebook is the most important social medium for sharing stories for all UK newsbrands – and it’s still growing

• BBC much more biased to Twitter – but total UK newsbrands now rival BBC for Twitter shares

*Direct activity from newsbrand url. Excludes likes etc for newsbrand Facebook pages, Twitter following, favourites & re-tweets. Global data.

Global social media interactions* from UK newsbrand articles exceed 25 million monthly

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14

25,659 25,131

29,211

26,079

27,451

000s social media interactions

Source: Newswhip UK Newsbrands: dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk, metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)

*Facebook likes, shares & comments; Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest shares

UK newsbrands closing the gap with Buzzfeed

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14

25,659 27,451

41,434

28,510

5,711 5,754

9,389 9,399

2,945 1,545

000s social media interactions

Newsbrands Buzzfeed Upworthy BBC Huffington Post

Source: Newswhip UK Newsbrands: dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk, metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)

UK newsbrand articles are shared around 9 million times each month on Facebook and Twitter

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14

5,990 5,840

6,748

5,606 5,964

2,812 2,685 3,039

2,622 3,033

000s shares

Facebook Twitter

Source: Newswhip *UK Newsbrands: dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk, metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)

Facebook and UK newsbrands

Facebook is the most important social media brand for newsbrands

Source: NewswhipUK Newsbrands total interactions Jan-May 2014: dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk, metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14

40% 42% 43% 45% 45%

23% 23% 23% 21% 22%

25% 24% 22% 22% 21%

11% 11% 10% 10% 11%1% 1% 1% 2% 1%

Share of UK newsbrand interactions by social media brand

Facebook Likes Facebook Shares Facebook Comments Twitter Shares LinkedIn/Pinterest

News content on Facebook growing fast

• Total interactions for news content up from 393.6m in January 2014 to 482.8m in April 2014

Source: Newswhip blog http://blog.newswhip.com/

Likes 927,055 m

Comments 381,901 m

Shares 434,874 m

Total interactions Jan-April 2014

+ 26% Apr vs Jan

+ 30% Apr vs Jan

+ 8% Apr vs Jan

• Shares growing at fastest rate

Total Facebook interactions for UK newsbrands reach 23+million monthly

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14

22,66622,264

25,883

23,032

24,126

000s

Source: NewswhipUK Newsbrands Jan-May 2014 : dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk, metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)

UK newsbrand articles’ Facebook likes increase to nearly 12.5 million monthly

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14

10,340 10,495

12,679

11,61612,468

6,3365,929

6,4565,810 5,695

000s

Facebook likes Facebook comments

Source: NewswhipUK Newsbrands Jan-May 2014 : dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk, metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)

US providers more reliant on Facebook

upworthy.com

buzzfeed.com

metro.co.uk

huffingtonpost.co.uk

dailymail.co.uk

mirror.co.uk

express.co.uk

theguardian.com

independent.co.uk

telegraph.co.uk

standard.co.uk

bbc.co.uk

99.8%

97.2%

95.5%

94.1%

92.8%

89.5%

89.0%

86.7%

83.4%

78.5%

77.0%

64.8%

0.1%

1.9%

4.3%

5.5%

6.1%

10.3%

10.7%

12.1%

15.8%

19.9%

21.1%

33.9%

Share of interactions by social media brand

Facebook likes, shares and comments Twitter shares

Source: Newswhip Jan-May 2014

Guardian50.3m

But UK titles are the biggest English language newspapers on Facebook in first half of 2014

Daily Mail48.5m

New York Times47.9m

USA Today25.2m

W/tonPost

22.5m

Total Facebook interactions Jan-June 2014

Source: Newswhip Jan-June 2014

Facebook shares higher than Twitter for most UK newsbrands

Source: Newswhip Jan-May 2014UK Newsbrands: dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk, metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)

upworthy.com

buzzfeed.com

metro.co.uk

huffingtonpost.co.uk

dailymail.co.uk

mirror.co.uk

express.co.uk

theguardian.com

independent.co.uk

telegraph.co.uk

standard.co.uk

bbc.co.uk

99.6%

93.0%

82.8%

79.9%

79.7%

69.0%

65.7%

64.9%

58.1%

51.6%

43.7%

40.1%

0.4%

7.0%

17.2%

20.1%

20.3%

31.0%

34.3%

35.1%

41.9%

48.4%

56.3%

59.9%

Shares only – Facebook vs Twitter

Facebook shares Twitter shares

• Pure players more reliant on very high numbers sharing each article, especially Upworthy

• UK newsbrand success more dependent on larger number of articles being shared

• BUT the most shared UK newsbrands also have highest ratio of shares to articles

• Optimising number of shares, particularly on Facebook is key to social media success

“We actually created that huge traffic jump in June producing fewer stories, not more. On the day-to-day operational side, the team has made dozens of changes that add up to the newsroom working better and more efficiently. Seemingly mundane things make a huge difference – things such as better planning, more creative story conferences, and using audience data to decide what to stop doing.”Jason Seiken

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14

1,152

2,086 2,039 2,073

2,701

3,609

5,916

Total Facebook interactions 000’s Mirror.co.uk

“The Mirror, which we noted entering the top 25 in June, made further gains (in July), to come in at 17th overall, their best performance yet. Their biggest stories of July were mainly sports related, such as an interactive poll which asked readers their pick of the best goalkeeper of the World Cup, which gained over 200,000 engagements on Facebook.”Newswhip blog

“At the digital first Mirror.co.uk, the four main weekday peak times, with devices, are as follows:

7am - Mobile

Midday - Desktop

4.30pm - Desktop and Mobile

8pm - Mobile and Tablet

To respond to these surges in expectant visitors, the Mirror’s newsroom has big refreshes of content at each of these times. Posting new stories on Facebook at these times is part of that strategy.”Newswhip sharing guide

Source: Newswhip Jan-May 2014

UK newsbrands prompt more Facebook interactions than the BBC, led by Guardian and MailOnline

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14

22,666 22,264

25,883

23,03224,126

6,5965,659

4,947 4,6615,645

7,199 8,051 7,8058,462

9,2519,592

7,6178,296

7,3807,076

000s shares, likes & comments

Newsbrands bbc.co.uk theguardian.com dailymail.co.uk

Source: Newswhip Jan-May 2014UK Newsbrands: dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk, metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)

Some top Facebook stories

January 2014, MailOnline586,250 interactions, 132,024 shares

March 2014, telegraph.co.uk489,947 interactions, 140,945 shares

March 2014, mirror.co.uk231,445 interactions, 129,983 shares

January 2014, MailOnline637,245 interactions, 195,818 shares

May 2014, independent.co.uk221,542 interactions, 44,024 shares

March 2014, theguardian.com221,542 interactions, 44,024 shares

It’s not just trivia, lists and snippets…

• In July 2014 this story helped the Guardian break the 10m monthly Facebook interactions barrier for the first time

July 2014, theguardian.com250,000 Facebook interactions

It’s not just trivia, lists and snippets

• Story length is no barrier to sharing

• Analysis of top 10 most shared stories for 5 big publishers on Facebook showed that long form, high quality writing and interesting editorials make up the bulk of the big hits (except BBC)

• The Guardian’s top stories averaged 1,740 words and included a six-part multimedia feature on NSA revelations, totalling 4,000+ words

It’s not just trivia, lists and snippets

• Biggest UK newsbrand stories, Facebook May 2014:• 31 UK and world news, current affairs and comment• 6 sport• 3 showbiz• 3 video links• 2 science• 2 books• 1 beauty• and just 3 lists or quizzes (though this was the most shared)

Headlines/pics from most shared storiesActual front page

Source: Newswhip experiment

Actual front pageHeadlines/pics from most shared stories

Source: Newswhip experiment

Twitter

UK newsbrand Twitter shares similar to BBC

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14

2,812 2,685

3,039

2,622

3,033

2,704 2,490

2,729

2,876

3,607

756 846 855 864 782

98 113 115 97 108

000s shares

UK newsbrands BBC Buzzfeed Huffington Post

UK Newsbrands: dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk, metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)

Some top Twitter shares

Jan 2014, theguardian.com9,732 shares

Jan 2014, independent.co.uk16,330 shares

Feb 2014, theguardian.com15,714 shares

May 2014, MailOnline23,801 shares

Mar 2014, telegraph.co.uk7,868 shares

Feb 2014, mirror.co.uk5,838 shares

Top 10 most shared UK newsbrand stories each month on Twitter are almost all in top 35 of Facebook shares – usually with higher interactions on Facebook

But top Facebook stories are not always big on Twitter:

• timing of story?• demographics?• Twitter more biased towards quality sector and serious news

Source: Newswhip Jan-May 2014

How many follow UK newsbrands

Follow newspaper brand

Follow newspaper sub-brand

Follow newspaper journalist

Any of these

35%

17%

49%

59%

% Twitter users

Source: You Gov January 2014

Base: All UK Twitter Users (1266)

Gossip/Banter I want to relax and enjoy myself

Twitter has a unique humorous side to news stories. It’s a backstage pass into the lives of

celebrities and allows me to be part of the gossip.

Knowledge I want to be the first to know

Twitter gives me instant access to the news and is where news stories tend to break first. It’s the best place to follow news stories as

they develop during the day.

CommunityI want to find out about things I care about

Twitter gives me the chance to engage with stories relevant to me with a community of

like-minded people. Discovering people with shared interests I wouldn’t otherwise meet

through shared news interests.

Opinion I want to know what people think

Twitter is a way of discovering different points of opinion and commentary on news

stories. More personal opinions of celebrities/writers.

Interaction with the news on Twitter

Twitter adds four core benefits as a news platform for users…

Source: #NewsOnTheTweet 2014

Gossip/Banter Witty and celebrity columnists

Newsbrands are responsible for some of the most popular individual tweeters. Individual

journalists are key contributors to the humour content on Twitter.

Knowledge Trusted instant updates

Newsbrand handles provide legitimacy and authority when news is breaking on Twitter.

They also provide journalists that offer quicker, more accurate instant updates on

stories as they happen.

CommunityAn opportunity to connect with like-minded

content and people

Through their sub-section handles and the overarching strength of newsbrand identities

newsbrands offer users the opportunity to discover more content that is relevant to

them and engage with other people through these communities.

Opinion Honest and expert opinions and debate

Newsbrands offer expert opinion pieces and the individual journalists offer honest and frank opinions as well as engaging with

followers.

Interaction with the news on Twitter

Newsbrands underpin these 4 key benefits

Source: #NewsOnTheTweet 2014

Newspaper brands provide an authoritative viewpoint and offer verified news in a user generated content world.

Twitter helps newspaper brands to become part of

breaking news in people’s minds through

instant updates

Newspaper brands provide detailed analysis behind 140

character Tweets

Twitter provides opportunities for users to engage with newspaper

brands that they wouldn’t normally read in other formats.

Newspaper brands offer content and recognisable

brands that can bring people together through

shared interests

Twitter enables newspaper readers to connect with

newsbrands and content in a more direct dialogue

The whole is stronger than the sum of the parts

http://www.newsworks.org.uk/newsonthetweet

For further information see:

Newsbrands are also big content providers for LinkedIn and Pinterest

Jan-14 Feb-14 Mar-14 Apr-14 May-14

120109

196 199 203

6172

94

226

89

000s interactions

LinkedIn Pinterest

UK Newsbrands: dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk, metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)

@Telegraph

@MailOnline

@guardian @DailyMirror@thetimes

256,377 likes

233,811 followers*

*excluding sub-brands and journalists

@EveningStandard

275,712 likes

18,105 followers*

3,581,538 likes

2,548,816 followers*

1,025,531 likes

190,715 followers*

@Independent

2,432,175 likes

760,647 followers*

2,009,489 likes

673,968 followers* 1,723,859 likes

582,163 followers*

@TheSunNewspaper

1,600,951 likes

587,468 followers*

Summary and implications

• UK newsbrands are highly influential social media activators, delivering more than 25 million social interactions every month

• Massive shared audiences on a daily basis

• Facebook sharing is increasing audiences to UK newsbrands and is vital to social media velocity

• Wide range of stories to tap into for advertisers

methodology

What Are NewsWhip’s Social Rankings?

Each month, NewsWhip publishes lists of the top social publishers of the previous month, covering Twitter, Facebook and sometimes LinkedIn and Pinterest.The rankings are based on the number of shares, tweets, comments and other interactions accrued to content published by each site in the relevant month.

What content is covered?

For Facebook, NewsWhip combines the total number of likes, shares and comments on content published during that month alone.For Facebook, if someone on a site uses an on-site share button to share an article to their timeline, that action counts as one share. If someone copy-pastes the link directly to Facebook, that share will count in the exact same way.The rankings have nothing to do with the number of people who ‘like’ a publication’s Facebook page that month, although that may have some effect on how engaged the audience is with the content. A publisher with many “likes” has better audience access and may have access needed to drive more activity around their content.

For Twitter, NewsWhip counts the total number of tweets that include links to each publisher’s articles (that includes re-tweets) from that month. Twitter favourites are not currently included.

For all sites, the figures relate solely to content published during the month in question alone. Older content that continued going viral, or archived material posted without a new URL is not taken into account.  Where does the data come from?All the data comes from Spike, which monitors about 50,000 publications in 12 languages, categorising content from each one by country, topic and publisher, and gathering data on topics, authors, and videos associated with each story. Spike tracks the speed at which each story spreads on Facebook and Twitter.