Newsbrands and Social Media

1. Social

2. @Telegraph@MailOnline
@guardian @DailyMirror@Independent @EveningStandard@thetimes
@MetroUK
UK newsbrands hit
record highs on social media

3. It’s not just trivia, lists and snippets…
47%
World news
9%
Current Affairs
29%
UK news
9%
Science
3%
Gallery
3%
Showbiz
Source: Newswhip May 2016

4. 610m likes
133m shares
149m comments
92m shares 7.3m shares 4m shares
UK newsbrands have driven 979 million
social media interactions over the last 12 months
Source: Newswhip June ‘15 - May ‘16

5. 86,939
96,4…
80,324 80,284
84,121
122,092
75,567
84,298
69,091
73,944
60,192
65,804
Social media interactions (000)
Source: Newswhip June ‘15 - May ‘16

6. 86,939
96,481
80,324 80,284
84,121
93,188
75,567
84,298
69,091
73,944
60,192
65,804
Jun-15 Jul-15 Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15 Dec-15 Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16
Newsbrands Buzzfeed Upworthy BBC Huffington Post
UK newsbrands have more interactions than
Buzzfeed
Social Media Interactions (000)
Source: Newswhip June ‘15 - May ‘16

7. 29%
14%
7%
3% 3%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Facebook Twitter YouTube Google+ WhatsApp
Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism - Digital News Report 2015,
Leading social networks used weekly for news
in the UK

8. Brand Facebook Likes Twitter Followers
The Times 504,919 676,000
The Guardian 5,823,938 4,930,000
The Sun 2,246,150 990,000
Daily Mirror 2,093,272 618,000
Daily Mail 4,245,464 1,410,000
London Evening Standard 595,852 291,000
The Daily Telegraph 3,365,852 1,500,000
The Independent 4,347,758 1,670,000
i 221,151 757,000
Metro 1,260,578 221,000
Our stakeholders

9. UK newsbrands
and Facebook

10. 94% 93% 93% 93% 90% 89% 89% 84%
77%
85% 85%
6% 6% 6% 6% 9% 10% 10% 14%
22%
13% 13%
Jul-15 Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15 Dec-15 Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn/Pinterest
Facebook is the most popular social media brand for UK newsbrands
UK newsbrands have more interactions than
Buzzfeed
Social Media Interactions (000)
Source: Newswhip June ‘15 - May ‘16

11. 0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
Jun-15 Jul-15 Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15 Dec-15 Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16
Likes Shares Comments
Likes are most popular
Source: Newswhip June ‘15 - May ‘16

12. 66% 16% 18%
Likes
Comments Shares
In fact, 70% of Facebook interaction are likes…
Source: Newswhip June ‘15 - May ‘16

13. 9% 9%
15%
17%
20%
17%
13%
6 am to 12pm 12pm to 2pm 2pm to 4pm 4pm to 6pm 6pm to 8pm 8pm to 10pm 10pm to 6am
The most
shared
stories were
published
between 4pm
and 10pm
What’s the best time to post a story on Facebook?
% of Top stories shared at this time
Source: Newswhip Blog

14. 45k
shares
Examples of some stories popular on Facebook
216k
shares
258k
shares
104k
shares
111k
shares
Source: Newswhip May 2016
104k
shares

15. “
I think I first saw the Guardian on Facebook.
Friends just started posting links to articles. I
found myself clicking on them. After a while I
liked the page and began reading more. Then
when I started getting the train regularly I found
myself buying the paper for the journey
Camille, 23
Source: Newsworks, Generation News 2015
Developing newsbrand reading habits

16. Developing newsbrand reading habits
“
73% of Millennials
say they that:
If I hear about an interesting news
story on social media I’ll go to my
preferred newspaper website to
get more info
Source: Newsworks, Generation News 2015

17. UK newsbrands
and Twitter

18. 0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
Jul-15 Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15 Dec-15 Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16
UK newsbrands BBC Buzzfeed Huffington Post (UK)
UK newsbrand Twitter shares
Deaths of
David
Bowie &
Alan
Rickman
BBC Music
Awards
2015 – One
Direction
Source: Newswhip June ‘15 - May ‘16

19. Examples of some stories popular on Facebook
21k
shares
19k
shares
13k
shares
2k
shares
1.6k
shares
15k
shares
Source: Newswhip May 2016

20. UK newsbrand are often conversation catalysts on Twitter
Following The Mail on Sunday's publication of an extract from Lord Ashcroft's
unathorised biography of David Cameron 'Call me Dave', #Hameron #Oink
and #piggate were trending on Twitter.

21. UK newsbrand are often conversation catalysts on Twitter
A Twitter account @Cameron’s Pig was created within minutes and gained over
15,000 followers within 24 hours..…

22. Twitter adds four core benefits
as a new platform for users
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.
Community
I 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
Source: Newsworks, #NewsOnTheTweet 2014

23. Twitter adds four core benefits
as a new platform for users
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.
Community
An 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
Source: Newsworks, #NewsOnTheTweet 2014

24. The whole is stronger than the sum of the parts
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

25. Newsbrands are also big content providers
for LinkedIn and Pinterest
Social Media Interactions (000)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Jun-15 Jul-15 Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15 Dec-15 Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16
LinkedIn Pinterest
Source: Newswhip June ‘15 - May ‘16

26. Summary and implications
UK newsbrands
have driven 979
million social
media interactions
over the last 12
months
Massive shared
audiences on a
daily basis
Facebook sharing
is increasing UK
newsbrand
audiences, this is
vital to social
media velocity
Wide range of
stories to tap into
for advertisers

27. 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.