Institutional Use of Twitter by the 1994 Group of UK Universities

A survey of institutional use of Twitter by Russell Group University Web sites was published on 14^th January 2011. But are the approaches taken across that sector typical of the UK HE community? In order to observe approaches across a wider group of institutions the survey was repeated across the 1994 Group. This group, which was established in 1994 “brings together nineteen internationally renowned, research-intensive universities. The Group provides a central vehicle to help members promote their common interests in higher education, respond efficiently to key policy issues, and share best methods and practice.”

The survey was carried out on 18-19^th January 2011 and, as with the initial survey, recorded the number of followers, users followed and tweets published together with details of the location and biographical details of the institutional accounts and the provision of links to the Tweetstats service which provides statistical information on the average number of tweets posted per month .

Note that following comments made on the initial survey it was felt that it would be useful to include information on the number of Twitter lists which the accounts are included in (as described in a post on Who Needs Murdoch – I’ve Got Smartr, My Own Personalised Daily Newspaper! we may start to see Twitter lists being used in a number of interesting ways(.

In addition information on the background provided on the Twitter Web site is included, as this may have implications for accessibility, and details of the date of the first tweet have been included. The statistical information provided by the Tweetstats service was extended to profile the Twitter clients used to post tweets. Also note that the information was gathered from the Web interface while not logged in to Twitter and that the full URL of the link to the institutional Web site is provided (rather than the partial URL which is displayed which was published in the previous survey).

Ref. No.	Institution	Nos. of Followers	Following	Tweets	Nos. of Lists	First Tweet	Tweetstats	Background Image
1	University of Bath: @uniofbath Name: University of Bath Location: Bath, England Web: http://www.bath.ac.uk/ Bio: News from the University of Bath	5,339	73	1,642	290	19 Jan 2009	Tweetstats for University of Bath: Average: 65 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Tweetdeck (50%), Web (42%)	Logo and brief textual information
2	Birkbeck, University of London: No single central account but multiple accounts listed.
3	Durham University: @durhamuni Name: Durham University Location: Durham, UK Web: http://www.dur.ac.uk/ Bio: Shaped by the past, creating the future	4,302	2	208	233	2 Aug 2008	Tweetstats for Durham University: Average: 6 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Twitterfeed (100%)	Purple background
4	University of East Anglia: @UEA_news Name: Uni of East Anglia Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Web: http://www.uea.ac.uk/ Bio: The University of East Anglia is an internationally-renowned university based in the cathedral city of Norwich in the UK.	3,256	129	307	158	26 Mar 2009	Tweetstats for University of East Anglia: Average: 13 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Web (53%), TwitThis (46%)	Plain blue background
5	University of Essex: @Uni_of_Essex Name: University of Essex Location: Colchester, Loughton, Southend Web: http://www.essex.ac.uk/ Bio: The University of Essex is one of the UK’s leading academic institutions. We are one of the UK’s top ten universities for both teaching and research.	2,259	237	876	112	27 Feb 2009	Tweetstats for Uni_of_Essex: Average: 38 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Tweetdeck (39%), Facebook (36%), Web (21%),  Google (3%)	Photo with text of URLs for other social Web accounts
6	University of Exeter: @uniofexeter Name: University of Exeter Location: Devon, UKWeb: http://www.exeter.ac.uk/ Bio: Exeter is a top UK university which combines world leading research with very high levels of student satisfaction.	1,829	1,720	608	71	28 Jul 2009	Tweetstats for University of Exeter: Average: 33 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Tweetdeck (50%), Twitterfeed (24%), Web (9%)	Photo montage
7	Goldsmiths, University of London: @goldsmithsuol Name: Goldsmiths Location: New Cross, London, SE14 Web: http://www.gold.ac.uk/ Bio: The latest news and events from Goldsmiths, University of London. Regularly updated by real people in the Goldsmiths Press Office!	2,883	458	428	174	13 Feb 2009	Tweetstats for Goldsmiths, University of London Average: 15 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Tweetdeck (59%), Web (24%)	Photo
8	Institute of Education, University of London: @IOE_London Name: IOE Location: London, UK Web: http://www.ioe.ac.uk/ Bio: News and events from the Institute of Education, University of London	699	279	226	29	22 Jan 2010	Tweetstats for Institute of Education, University of London: Average: 13 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Web (73%) NOTE 1	Photo, logo and textual information
9	Lancaster University: @lancasteruni Name: Lancaster University Location: Lancaster, UK Web: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/ Bio: News from Lancaster University	2,886	136	290	198	20 Mar 2009	Tweetstats for Lancaster University: Average: 10 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Web (57%) NOTE 1	Logo
10	University of Leicester: @UniofLeics Name: University Leicester Location: University of Leicester, UK Web: http://www.le.ac.uk/ Bio: Twitter channel for the University of Leicester	758	49	141	49	9 Oct 2009	Tweetstats for Leicester University: Average: 14 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Web (95%)	Logo
11	Loughborough University: @lborouniversity Name: Loughborough Uni Location: Loughborough Web: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/ Bio: None	423	14	164	43	5 Aug 2009	Tweetstats for Loughborough University: Average:  9 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Tweetdeck (80%), Web (7%)	Photo
12	Queen Mary, University of London: @qmul Name: Queen Mary Uni Londn Location: London, UK Web: http://www.qmul.ac.uk/ – with tag info Bio: News and events and some other musings from Queen Mary, University of London.	2,644	1,250	799	150	28 Jan 2009	Tweetstats for Queen Mary, University of London: Average: 30 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Tweetdeck (59%), Web (25%), bit.ly (6%), Facebook (4%)	Photo and logo
13	University of Reading: @UniRdg_News Name: Uni of Reading Location: Reading, England Web: http://www.reading.ac.uk/ Bio: Keep up to date with all the latest news from the University of Reading!	625	143	176	42	19 Jan 2010	Tweetstats for the University of Reading: Average: 8 tweets per month.Twitter clients: Web (60%)	None
14	University of St Andrews:  @univofstandrews Name: Univ of St Andrews Location: St Andrews Web: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Bio: University of St Andrews – Scotland’s first university	2,352	118	299	158	2 Feb 2009	Tweetstats for University of St Andrews: Average: 12 tweets per month.Twitter clients: Tweetfeed (78%), Twhirl (8%), Seesmic (5%), Web (2%)	Blue background and logo
15	School of Oriental and African Studies: @SOASNews Name: SOAS News Location: Web: http://www.soas.ac.uk/ Bio: None (Note I was informed on 12 March 2011 that the @SOASnewsroom and @SOASfeed are the official SOAS Twitter feeds)	(122)	(2)	(0)	(3)			Default
16	University of  Surrey:  @uniofsurrey Name: University of  Surrey Location: Guildford, UK Web: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/ Bio: Tweets from the University of Surrey	4,058	473	710	216	???	Tweetstats for University of  Surrey Average: 24 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Cotweet (72%), Tweetie  (5%),Web (3%), Tweetdeck (2%)	Photo and logo
17	University of Sussex: @sussexuni Name: University of Sussex Location: Brighton, UK Web: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/ Bio: University of Sussex is a top 10 UK research intensive university set in beautiful downland on the edge of Brighton, with over 11,000 students and 2,500 staff.	5,866	1,171	1,824	321	16 Feb 2009	Tweetstats for University of Sussex: Average: 74 tweets per month. Twitter clients: Web (50%), Hootsuite (43%), MobileWeb (3%)	Photo
18	University of York: @uniofyork Name: University of York Location: York, UK Web: http://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/ Bio: The latest news and events at the University of York, UK	2,822	113	394	222	30 Mar 2009	Tweetstats for University of York: Average: 17 tweets per month.Twitter clients: bit.ly (58%), Web (40%)	Photo
	TOTAL	41,320	6,367	9,092

Note the the results from use of the MyFirstTweet service were inconsistent due to problems with the service itself. It is also unclear as to whether the correct page will be displayed by following the link provided.

Also note that the results for SOAS were not included in the subsequent discussions and analyses.

Discussion

The previous survey documented examples of emerging best practices including suggestions on:

• Content provided in profile information (the bio: field).
• Location information.
• Links to the host institution.

This information is not repeated here.

Metrics

A summary showing the range of various Twitter metrics for the 1994 Group is given below:

• Numbers of Twitter followers: The numbers ranged from 423-5,866 (in comparison with a range of 865-12,265 for Russell Group Universities).
• Numbers of Twitter users followed: The numbers ranged from 2-1,720 (in comparison with a range of 33-5,089 for Russell Group Universities).
• Numbers of tweets: The numbers ranged from 141-1,824  (in comparison with a range of 192-1,167 for Russell Group Universities).
• Average numbers of tweet per month: The numbers ranged from 6-74 (in comparison with a range of 23-91 for Russell Group Universities).

Further Thoughts on Emerging Best Practices

The previous survey highlighted some suggestions for emerging best practices based on observations on how Twitter is being used across Russell Group Universities. This suggestions will not be repeated here. Instead comments will be restricted to some of the additional features which were surveyed:

• Background image and content: In the previous survey it was pointed out that “many of the institutional Twitter accounts had branded the Twitter home page, some with just a background image but others … with additional textual information and link information“. However such approaches may, arguably, act as barriers to people with disabilities. There will be a need for institutions to understand and address such concerns.
• Twitter clients used for posting: The Tweetstats tool provides information on clients used to post tweets. It may be useful for those involved in managing institutional Twitter accounts to monitor the various clients used in order to be able to identify tools which may prove particularly useful for institutional tweeting.
• Dates of first tweets: The date of an initial tweet may give an indication of when an institution began tweeting (although this may not be when a institutional Twitter feed was officially launched).  However such information may indicate when Twitter became prevalent as an institutional tool.  many of the institutions seem to have launched their service in early 2009 – it would be interesting to see if that related to an event shortly before that date.

I hope these comments will prove useful for those involved in managing institutional (or department) Twitter accounts.