Research by Searchmetrics identifies most tweeted newspaper stories in 2013

New York - January 09, 2014 - The Washington Post, New York Times and USA Today figure in the top three positions in a study which analyzes prominent US newspaper websites for their popularity on social network, Twitter.

Content from USA Today and the Washington Post was also found to dominate the list of the top ten most tweeted newspaper website stories during 2013 in the study by digital marketing software and services company, Searchmetrics.

Searchmetrics analyzed the number of tweets per week generated by content on ten leading US newspaper web sites[1] using the continuously updated database of search and social network data which powers its software for tracking search and social media marketing activity.

The research (see list below) reveals that the Washington Post drives an average 275,193 tweets per week followed by the New York Times with 261,422 tweets per week and USA Today (149,960 tweets per week).

Most Popular US Newspaper Websites on Twitter

1. Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com): 275,193 tweets per week
2. New York Times (www.nytimes.com): 261,422 tweets per week
3. USA Today (www.usatoday.com):  149,960 tweets per week
4. Wall Street Journal (online.wsj.com): 134,248 tweets per week
5. Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com): 118,911 tweets per week
6. New York Daily News (www.nydailynews.com): 51,877 tweets per week
7. Chicago Tribune (www.chicagotribune.com): 17,777 tweets per week
8. New York Post (www.nypost.com): 13,532 tweets per week
9. Denver Post (www.denverpost.com): 8,887 tweets per week
10. Chicago Sun-Times (www.suntimes.com): 4,982 tweets per week

A USA Today news article, which was tweeted 408,816 times during 2013, took the top position in Searchmetrics’ analysis of the ten newspaper websites’ most tweeted stories of the year. The news piece, which includes a video report, discusses the shooting of the Texas gunman thought to be tied to the shootings of a Colorado prisons chief and a pizza delivery driver.

The second most tweeted story was a Washington Post article about the findings of an investigation into the life of Adam Lanza, the lone gunman who shot 26 people at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. This article is accompanied by a video of a speech by President Barack Obama discussing the upcoming Senate vote on gun control legislation.

Five of the stories in the top ten are from the Washington Post and four are from the USA Today (see list below).

Most frequently Tweeted Newspaper Website Stories of 2013

1. USA Today, Texas gunman brain dead; may be tied to Colo. slayings http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/21/colorado-prison-chief-slain-texas/2007061/: 408, 816 tweets 
2. Washington Post, Newtown shooter Lanza had more than 1,700 rounds of ammunition in his house http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/newtown-shooter-had-thousands-of-rounds-of-ammunition-in-his-house/2013/03/28/48943532-97a4-11e2-814b-063623d80a60_story.html: 361,259 tweets
3. Washington Post, Kenyatta wins Kenya presidential election by narrow margin http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/kenyattas-lead-shrinks-as-more-votes-tallied-in-tense-kenyan-election/2013/03/08/02725760-87e0-11e2-999e-5f8e0410cb9d_story.html: 321,262 tweets
4. Washington Post, Supreme Court conservatives express skepticism over voting law provision http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-majority-skeptical-of-voting-law-provision/2013/02/27/e89b038e-80fd-11e2-b99e-6baf4ebe42df_story.html: 308,926 tweets
5. Washington Post, Thousands rally outside Supreme Court as it hears cases on gay marriage http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/thousands-rally-outside-supreme-court/2013/03/26/69d99822-962d-11e2-8b4e-0b56f26f28de_story.html  294,681 tweets
6. USA Today, Suicide bombers target Afghan security forces  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/02/24/afghanistan-bomb-taliban-kabul/1942445/: 294,510 tweets
7. USA Today, No. 3 Duke gets incredible boost from Ryan Kelly http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/acc/2013/03/02/duke-blue-devils-miami-hurricanes-ryan-kelly/1959463/: 265,747 tweets
8. LA Times, Working Hollywood: Tattoo artist Dickcherry has lasting influence http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/26/entertainment/la-ca-mn-working-hollywood-20130127: 256,117 tweets
9. USA Today, Man charged in NY crash that killed couple, baby http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/07/manslaughter-charge-expectant-couple-crash/1972313/ : 219,832 tweets
10. Washington Post, N. Korea threatens nuclear test, more rocket launches in wake of tightened sanctions  http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/n-korea-threatens-nuclear-test-more-rocket-launches-in-wake-of-new-sanctions/2013/01/24/f1b84a9a-65ea-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html: 184,302 tweets

“In recent research[2] around half of all adult US Twitter users said they consume news through the social network, mainly on mobile devices,” said Marcus Tober, CTO and founder of Searchmetrics. “So for news sites, Twitter is an ideal tool for driving additional traffic to their content and our research shows that many leading newspaper websites are succeeding in this area.”

[1] The list of newspaper web sites is based on the first ten newspapers in AAM’s list of top US 25 daily newspapers: http://www.auditedmedia.com/news/blog/top-25-us-newspapers-for-march-2013.aspx
[2] Research by Pew Research Center in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/04/net-us-twitter-ipo-news-idUSBRE9A30UX20131104