Internet marketing company Coldlime has been crunching the numbers for the 100 top-ranked universities in the UK and the US, and has produced what it believes is a definitive list of the most influential higher education institutions on both sides of the Atlantic.
These tables show how many people are following each university, how many people they follow themselves (allowing a “follower ratio” to be calculated) and the number of tweets each account sends out per day, on average.
However, we have chosen to rank the institutions by their “social authority” score - as calculated by Twitter analytics tool Followerwonk, which assesses each Twitter account’s level of influential activity. This includes the number of retweets the university is generating, and analysis of the user’s follower count and recent activity levels. Here’s a full lowdown of how it works.
Top 100 most influential UK universities on Twitter
(based on Twitter data collected 1 May 2014)
| University | Following | Followers | Ratio | Tweets/day | Social Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plymouth @PlymUni | 1,254 | 21,600 | 17.2 | 7.2 | 72 |
| Glasgow @GlasgowUni | 2,032 | 36,700 | 18.1 | 2.4 | 69 |
| Birmingham @unibirmingham | 996 | 37,500 | 37.7 | 8.8 | 68 |
| UEA @uniofeastanglia | 1,202 | 22,000 | 18.3 | 5.4 | 66 |
| Swansea @SwanseaUni | 1,015 | 13,800 | 13.6 | 5.6 | 65 |
| Oxford @uniofoxford | 167 | 138,000 | 826.3 | 0.9 | 64 |
| Sussex @SussexUni | 3,900 | 30,900 | 7.9 | 6.1 | 64 |
| Robert Gordon @RobertGordonUni | 1,009 | 10,300 | 10.2 | 2.7 | 64 |
| Ulster @UlsterUni | 713 | 18,200 | 25.5 | 4.5 | 64 |
| Kent @unikent | 481 | 20,800 | 43.2 | 4.1 | 63 |
| Nottingham @UniofNottingham | 2,234 | 29,900 | 13.4 | 7.1 | 63 |
| Sheffield @sheffielduni | 19,000 | 37,400 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 63 |
| Cardiff @cardiffuni | 451 | 32,528 | 72.1 | 2.5 | 62 |
| Essex @Uni_of_Essex | 983 | 19,800 | 20.1 | 8.5 | 62 |
| Cambridge @cambridge_uni | 558 | 117,000 | 209.7 | 2.1 | 61 |
| Lancaster @LancasterUni | 743 | 24,300 | 32.7 | 3.8 | 61 |
| Loughborough @lborouniversity | 931 | 15,500 | 16.6 | 4.1 | 61 |
| Warwick @warwickuni | 2,294 | 32,700 | 14.3 | 3.3 | 60 |
| Aston @astonuniversity | 603 | 19,300 | 32.0 | 3.1 | 60 |
| Huddersfield @HuddersfieldUni | 3,409 | 17,700 | 5.2 | 4.3 | 60 |
| Aberdeen @aberdeenuni | 3,493 | 22,600 | 6.5 | 2.4 | 60 |
| Lincoln @unilincoln | 291 | 13,100 | 45.0 | 4.2 | 60 |
| De Montfort @dmuleicester | 507 | 12,200 | 24.1 | 4.9 | 60 |
| Salford @SalfordUni | 731 | 24,100 | 33.0 | 3.8 | 60 |
| Bath @UniOfBath | 4 | 28,700 | 67.2 | 3.7 | 59 |
| Surrey @UniOfSurrey | 1,290 | 23,100 | 17.9 | 2.6 | 59 |
| Bristol @bristoluni | 161 | 31,000 | 192.5 | 2.6 | 59 |
| Coventry @covcampus | 833 | 18,900 | 22.7 | 6.2 | 59 |
| Manchester Met @ManMetUni | 428 | 24,700 | 57.7 | 2.2 | 59 |
| Leicester @uniofleicester | 2,525 | 20,400 | 8.1 | 3.5 | 58 |
| Dundee @DundeeUniv | 1,991 | 19,600 | 9.8 | 6.2 | 58 |
| Liverpool @livuni | 623 | 24,400 | 39.2 | 5.9 | 58 |
| Teesside @TeessideUni | 1,616 | 20,700 | 12.8 | 4.4 | 58 |
| Kingston @KingstonUni | 110 | 21,000 | 190.9 | 2.2 | 58 |
| UCL @uclnews | 1,025 | 25,600 | 25.0 | 3.0 | 57 |
| Edinburgh @uniofedinburgh | 391 | 36,600 | 93.6 | 1.8 | 57 |
| Northampton @UniNorthants | 3,082 | 9,834 | 3.2 | 6.2 | 57 |
| Liverpool John Moores @ljmu | 507 | 12,400 | 24.5 | 2.2 | 57 |
| Sheffield Hallam @sheffhallamuni | 1,929 | 25,400 | 13.2 | 2.2 | 57 |
| Edinburgh Napier @EdinburghNapier | 803 | 14,000 | 17.4 | 2.9 | 57 |
| Exeter @uniofexeter | 7,643 | 25,800 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 56 |
| York @uniofyork | 548 | 26,600 | 48.5 | 2.0 | 56 |
| Southampton @unisouthampton | 906 | 20,600 | 22.7 | 2.2 | 56 |
| Leeds @universityleeds | 544 | 32,400 | 59.6 | 1.8 | 56 |
| Reading @uniofreading | 447 | 11,300 | 25.3 | 2.2 | 56 |
| Goldsmiths @GoldsmithsUOL | 682 | 15,600 | 22.9 | 1.3 | 56 |
| Sunderland @sunderlanduni | 508 | 9,6 | 18.3 | 7.1 | 56 |
| Anglia Ruskin @angliaruskin | 311 | 13,300 | 42.8 | 1.6 | 56 |
| Derby @DerbyUni | 3,177 | 17,100 | 5.4 | 4.3 | 56 |
| Central Lancashire @uclan | 705 | 16,300 | 23.1 | 3.5 | 56 |
| Worcester @worcester_uni | 264 | 7,541 | 28.6 | 2.6 | 56 |
| St Andrews @univofstandrews | 298 | 17,400 | 58.4 | 0.8 | 55 |
| King’s College London @kingscollegelon | 1,001 | 25,100 | 25.1 | 1.1 | 55 |
| Keele @KeeleUniversity | 2,365 | 18,600 | 7.9 | 2.9 | 55 |
| Bournemouth @bournemouthuni | 353 | 18,700 | 53.0 | 5.1 | 55 |
| University of the Arts London @UniArtsLondon | 3,622 | 15,500 | 4.3 | 3.1 | 55 |
| Birmingham City @MyBCU | 312 | 14,500 | 46.5 | 3.9 | 55 |
| Falmouth @falmouthuni | 866 | 10,000 | 11.5 | 8.4 | 55 |
| Bradford @BradfordUni | 937 | 15,500 | 16.5 | 2.7 | 55 |
| Staffordshire @StaffsUni | 776 | 14,700 | 18.9 | 7.2 | 55 |
| Durham @durham_uni | 1,610 | 14,600 | 9.1 | 1.8 | 54 |
| Chester @UOchester | 324 | 12,900 | 39.8 | 2.2 | 54 |
| Bangor @BangorUni | 359 | 16,500 | 46.0 | 2.0 | 54 |
| Edge Hill @edgehill | 986 | 17,300 | 17.5 | 2.6 | 53 |
| Nottingham Trent @TrentUni | 1,691 | 19,300 | 11.4 | 3.6 | 53 |
| Hertfordshire @UniofHerts | 785 | 14,900 | 19.0 | 2.9 | 53 |
| Aberystwyth @AberUni | 5,535 | 14,700 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 53 |
| Westminster @uniwestminster | 2,730 | 15,200 | 5.6 | 1.0 | 53 |
| Strathclyde @unistrathclyde | 416 | 17,200 | 41.3 | 0.9 | 52 |
| Oxford Brookes @oxford_brookes | 1,070 | 15,200 | 14.2 | 1.6 | 52 |
| Queen Mary @QMUL | 4,746 | 18,600 | 3.9 | 1.8 | 52 |
| Portsmouth @portsmouthuni | 623 | 16,100 | 25.8 | 2.1 | 52 |
| Queen’s, Belfast @queensubelfast | 373 | 17,200 | 46.1 | 2.1 | 52 |
| Northumbria @NorthumbriaUni | 334 | 15,500 | 46.4 | 1.4 | 52 |
| Hull @UniOfHull | 1,083 | 18,500 | 17.1 | 1.8 | 52 |
| Winchester @_UoW | 457 | 5,802 | 12.7 | 7.2 | 52 |
| Glasgow Caledonian @CaledonianNews | 776 | 8,925 | 11.5 | 5.3 | 52 |
| Newcastle @uniofnewcastle | 307 | 10,900 | 35.5 | 1.2 | 50 |
| Royal Holloway @RoyalHolloway | 467 | 10,900 | 23.3 | 1.4 | 50 |
| Heriot-Watt @HeriotWattUni | 397 | 10,400 | 26.2 | 1.1 | 49 |
| Brunel @bruneluni | 203 | 10,600 | 52.2 | 2.1 | 49 |
| Chichester @chiuni | 370 | 10,800 | 29.2 | 1.1 | 49 |
| Imperial College @imperialcollege | 2,643 | ,500 | 10.4 | 1.1 | 48 |
| Stirling @StirUni | 145 | 9,319 | 64.3 | 1.2 | 48 |
| Bath Spa @bathspauni | 119 | 13,000 | 109.2 | 1.8 | 48 |
| London School of Economics @LSEnews | 516 | 13,900 | 26.9 | 0.7 | 47 |
| SOAS @soas | 205 | 10,900 | 53.2 | 1.5 | 47 |
| City @CityUniLondon | 488 | 11,100 | 22.7 | 1.5 | 47 |
| York St John @Yorkstjohn | 296 | 9,710 | 32.8 | 1.6 | 47 |
| Brighton @uniofbrighton | 241 | 16,800 | 69.7 | 1.6 | 46 |
| Gloucestershire @uniofglos | 462 | 11,000 | 23.8 | 2.0 | 46 |
| UWE Bristol @uwebristol | 582 | 7,365 | 12.7 | 1.3 | 45 |
| West London @UniWestLondon | 2,028 | 4,241 | 2.1 | 3.2 | 45 |
| St Mary’s UC, Twickenham @YourStMarys | 247 | 5,063 | 20.5 | 1.6 | 44 |
| Buckingham @UniOfBuckingham | 235 | 7,166 | 30.5 | 0.8 | 43 |
| UC Suffolk @UCS_NEWS | 181 | 2,960 | 16.4 | 1.2 | 40 |
| Queen Margaret @QMUniversity | 251 | 6,366 | 25.4 | 0.5 | 39 |
| Newman University @newman_uni | 85 | 1,840 | 21.6 | 0.7 | 39 |
| Greenwich @UniGreenwich | 137 | 2,362 | 17.2 | 3.0 | 35 |
| Manchester @OfficialUoM | 235 | 1,444 | 6.1 | 1.0 | 21 |
Editor’s note: The UK table has been updated to reflect changes made by Coldlime after the original publication of the data.
Top 100 most influential US universities on Twitter
(based on Twitter data collected 1 May 2014)
Coldlime has produced an interactive version of both the UK and the US tables.
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