Indianapolis Sports Media Monthly Twitter Rankings Show @KentSterling Posting Massive Gains; @DanDakich Leads Overall

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by Kent Sterling

imagesTwitter is fascinating.  Real time and precise measurement of audience is not something I’m familiar with having been in radio for years.  It’s also a fun and immediate mode of communication with an audience who then can immediately reply directly.

Those you want to read, you follow.  Those you don’t want to hear from are not followed.  There is no bundling or unwanted communication.  Twitter serves both as a personal news service, and a personal chat room.

It’s genius, and that accounts for its massive popularity.  Width and engagement of your Twitter following goes a long way to determining the value of a media person’s brand.  Some are very comfortable expressing themselves through Twitter, and others believe it to be the third rail of media.  Say the wrong thing and careers end.  True, but the same is true on live radio or TV.

Click here to follow Kent on Twitter

Gathering followers really shouldn’t be a focus, just as ratings aren’t the goal in radio, TV, or print.  It’s providing excellent content consistently.  Do that, and the rest takes care of itself.  As the great Greg Solk always says, “Surprise and delight!”

Yes, I dominated the gains of followers by almost tripling the next highest percentage, but that’s a result of becoming a content provider instead of a manager.  Over time, my number will trek back to the norm, but in the meantime, there is nothing wrong with throttling the others in media.

I have added some others to the monthly rankings, and as they gather more followers over the next month, they will merge into the print area and will be ranked based upon their percentage of growth.

Here are the updated standings divided by media (percent increase followed by total followers):

Sports Radio in Indy

  1. Kent Sterling – 1070 the Fan     2,514 to 3,021       +20.3%
  2. Greg Rakestraw – 1070 the Fan      4,650 to 4,856         +4.4%
  3. Derek Schultz – 1260 WNDE           3,513 to 3,640          +3.6%
  4. Michael Grady – 1070 the Fan        8,869 to 9,117          +2.8%
  5. JMV – 1070 the Fan                           17,789 t0 18,234     +2.5%
  6. Mark Boyle – Pacers play-by-play  7,432 to 7,589          +2.1%
  7. Jake Query 1260 WNDE                   7,309 to 7,441          +1.8%
  8. Eddie White – Pacers Postgame      4,382 to 4,460         +1.8%
  9. Kevin Lee – 1070 the Fan/NBC       6,257 to 6,346          +1.4%
  10. Dan Dakich – 1070 the Fan             59,229 to 59,902     +1.1%

TV Sports Anchors/Reporters in Indy

  1. Brittany Diehl – Fox 59,           1,745 to 1,851           +6.1%
  2. Dave Calabro – WTHR,             7,200 to 7,562         +5.0%
  3. Eric Yutzy – WTHR,                         2,130 to 2,229            +4.6%
  4. Rich Nye – WTHR,                          4,009 to 4,169            +4.0%
  5. Anthony Calhoun – WISH,            5,337 to 5,545            +3.9%
  6. Chris Hagan – Fox 59,                    4,494 to 4,660            +3.7%
  7. Jeremiah Johnson – Fox 59,        3,850 to 3,986            +3.5%
  8. Larry Hawley – Fox 59,                  1,123 to 1,157            +3.0%
  9. Chris Widlic – WISH,                      1,467 to 1,511             +3.0%
  10. Amanda Maynard – WISH,            867 to 889                 +2.5%
  11. Dave Furst – RTV6,                          4,177 to 4,258            +1.9%
  12. Brad Brown – RTV6,                         515 to 524                  +1.7%
  13. Jason Spells – RTV6,                       1,779 to 1,805           +1.5%

Print/Digital – all with Indianapolis Star unless otherwise noted (beat in parenthesis)

  1. Mark Ambrogi                                1,544 to 1,657         +7.3%
  2. Mike Chappell (Colts)               13,048 to 13,983   +7.2%
  3. Phil Richards                                     2,725 to 2,833           +4.0%
  4. Zak Keefer (Butler)                            3,841 to 3,989          +3.9%
  5. Kyle Neddenriep (Preps)                 10,452 to 10,798      +3.3%
  6. Phillip B. Wilson                              13,778 to 14,209       +3.1%
  7. Mike Wells (Colts/ESPN)              24,616 to 25,310        +2.8%
  8. Bob Kravitz (columnist)                 34,737 to 35,459        +2.1%
  9. Michael Pointer                                 3,677 to 3,733           +1.5%
  10. Curt Cavin (Racing)                         12,046 to 12,189       +1.2%
  11. David Woods                                      5,497 to 5,549           +0.9%
  12. Terry Hutchens (Fox – IU)             12,562 to 12,655       +0.7%

New Entries

  1. Alex Bozich @insidethehall                            18,546
  2. Chronic Hoosier (hoosierchronicles.com) 15,583
  3. Mike Pegram  @peegs                                       12,961
  4. Dustin Dopirak (Bton Herald-Times)          7.306
  5. Conrad Bruner 1070thefan.com                    5,256
  6. Tom Lewis @IndyCornrows                           4,030
  7. Ken Bikoff @kbikoff                                          1,840

The only change in the rankings of raw followers was Brittany Diehl of Fox 59 screaming past Jason Spells.  The substantial gains in the radio sector moderated this month.  Mike Chappell did very well, as you would expect as Colts fans were looking for information on the Colts while they were at camp.  The TV talent is cluster by station, minus Diehl, who appears to be working hard to build followers independent of Fox 59’s desire to promote the Twitter feeds of its talent.  That makes sense.  The more viewers, the greater likelihood to reach a broader swath of users.

Some see Twitter as a necessary evil, and other as a fun diversion – something to do during games that allows direct two-way communication.  Is that why we got into this business in the first place?

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