UK Newspapers in Social Media: winners and losers

As yesterday’s blog post shows, social media continues to radically transform the ways traditional journalism operates across the world. We learnt that some of year’s biggest stories broke via Twitter, not printed press. And traditional journalism will either transform, or die.

An unanswered question remains though – how are UK’s newspapers navigating the uncharted territory of social media? Here’s a quick glance at the performance of six popular newspapers on Twitter – the hub of world’s instantaneous conversation.

The total number of followers and tweets is a good indicator of the user’s aggregate activity. Financial Times and the Telegraph are clear leaders in this category.

Number of Followers

 @FinancialTimes 1017671
 @Guardian 720,638
 @TheSunNewspaper 205968
 @Telegraph 158859
 @Independent 146256
 @TheTimes 52111

Total number of Tweets

 @Telegraph 155510
 @TheTimes 66905
 @Independent 43619
 @FinancialTimes 30253
 @Guardian 23029
 @TheSunNewspaper 15078

Seeing who joined Twitter first is another way to measure adaptability. Interestingly, Financial Times was the quickest to join the Twitterverse back in 2007.

Who joined first?

 @FinancialTimes 16-Apr-07
 @TheTimes 17-May-07
 @Telegraph 18-Sep-08
 @Independent 26-Oct-08
 @TheSunNewspaper 23-Apr-09
 @Guardian 05-Nov-09

Nevertheless, the quality of content is more important than quantity. Engagement rate can be measured by the relative number of retweets or replies. In these categories The Sun and the Guardian are clear leaders.

Number of Retweets per 100 tweets

 @TheSunNewspaper 3083
 @Guardian 1656
 @Independent 1402
 @FinancialTimes 394
 @Telegraph 314
 @TheTimes 137

Number of Replies per 100 tweets

 @Guardian 196
 @TheSunNewspaper 123
 @FinancialTimes 41
 @Independent 29
 @Telegraph 14
 @TheTimes 8

And what kind of content do these newspapers post? Here are the most retweeted posts for each newspaper:

Data sources:
twitter.com
mytoptweet.com
whendidyoujointwitter.com
twtrland.com

Latest Posts

B2B marketing success in 2025 depends on trust, not just reach. Buyers use social to research, value authentic video, and trust thought leadership more than ads. This roadmap shows how to build belief with content mixes, creators, and social proof—because trust is the KPI that drives growth.
Read More
Here we are, entering the “Mber” months, and we all know those are always busy months for marketing and design teams. Between new campaign launches, seasonal promotions, and the pressure to deliver standout visuals before the holidays, structuring your workflow becomes just as important as the creative work itself. This…
Read More
If you still think Reddit is the wild west of the internet, you’re already behind. For years Reddit sat on the sidelines of marketing plans, overlooked in favour of shinier platforms. Too messy, too unpredictable, too risky. And guess what, while brands looked away, audiences didn’t. They piled in. And…
Read More