Mainstream media brands like CNN and NYTimes drive a disproportionate number of Twitter trending topics, finds new research from HP. From a sample of over 16 million tweets, HP identified 22 users who were the source of the most retweets while a topic is trending — of those, 72% were Twitter accounts from mainstream media.
“We found that mainstream media play a role in most trending topics and actually act as feeders of these trends,” said Bernardo Huberman, director of HP Labs’ Social Computing Research Group. “Twitter users then seem to be acting more as filter and amplifier of traditional media in most cases.”
Among the first tier of the top 22 are @cnnbrk, @breakingnews, @nytimes, @espn and @huffingtonpost, which shows that the top drivers are a subset of mainstream media: news, especially breaking news. Also on the list, @skynewsbreak, @elpais, @reuters, @washingtonpost and @cbsnews. (Full study.)
It’s not a surprise that news drives Twitter trends — led by many mainstream accounts — but it’s always good reinforcement to see a study that backs it up.