It’s the last day of the month, so it’s time to update the Twitter rankings for the Indianapolis media. There are those still without a Twitter account. I would call that borderline irresponsible. Members of the media get paid based upon their ability to communicate, and Twitter allows communication in a simple and direct way. To avoid sports fans on a portal they prefer is crazy. The bigger the brand, the more valuable to a media entity, and Twitter allows an easy path to brand growth.
More importantly, Twitter is fun. Sharing feelings, frustrations, sources of joy in 140 characters, and receiving the same from others is exactly what we love or we wouldn’t have chosen this business. The more and better the tweets, and the more responsive we are to those who hit us back, the more satisfaction followers have in our product – just like radio, TV, print, or digital – only there is no doubt about the measurement in audience measurement.
I love Twitter. If you are in the media, and you don’t, you should either rethink your stance or accept that your lack of willingness to adapt is endemic of a fatal flaw that will come with a cost.
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Here are the updated standings divided by media (percent increase followed by total followers):
Sports Radio in Indy
- Kent Sterling – 1070 the Fan 3,410 to 4,111 +20.6%
- Conrad Bruner 1070thefan.com 5,513 to 5,840 +5.9%
- Greg Rakestraw – 1070 the Fan 5,108 to 5,402 +5.8%
- Derek Schultz – 1260 WNDE 3,767 to 3,960 +5.1%
- Michael Grady – 1070 the Fan 9,380 to 9,792 +4.4%
- Jake Query 1260 WNDE 7,663 to 7,908 +3.2%
- JMV – 1070 the Fan 18,740 to 19,348 +3.2%
- Mark Boyle – Pacers play-by-play 7,793 to 8,040 +3.2%
- Eddie White – Pacers Postgame 4,534 to 4,639 +2.3%
- Kevin Lee – 1070 the Fan/NBC 6,439 to 6,569 +2.0%
- Dan Dakich – 1070 the Fan 60,407 to 61,168 +1.3%
TV Sports Anchors/Reporters in Indy
- Brittany Diehl – Fox 59 1,914 to 2,050 +7.1%
- Anthony Calhoun – WISH 5,924 to 6,317 +6.6%
- Eric Yutzy – WTHR 2,369 to 2,510 +6.0%
- Larry Hawley – Fox 59 1,216 to 1,274 +4.8%
- Dave Calabro – WTHR 8,068 to 8,427 +4.4%
- Jeremiah Johnson – Fox 59 4,138 to 4,299 +3.9%
- Chris Widlic – WISH 1,561 to 1,615 +3.5%
- Amanda Maynard – WISH 920 to 950 +3.3%
- Dave Furst – RTV6 4,358 to 4,498 +3.2%
- Rich Nye – WTHR 4,344 to 4,477 +3.1%
- Chris Hagan – Fox 59 4,805 4,946 +2.9%
- Jason Spells – RTV6 1,826 to 1,856 +1.6%
- Brad Brown – RTV6 539 to 547 +1.5%
Print/Digital – all with Indianapolis Star unless otherwise noted (beat in parenthesis)
- Stephen Holder (Colts) 9,104 to 9,712 +6.7%
- Zak Keefer (Butler) 4,102 to 4,289 +4.6%
- Mike Chappell (Colts) 15,013 to 15,691 +4.5%
- Mark Ambrogi 1,755 to 1,834 +4.5%
- Bob Kravitz (columnist) 36,435 to 37,609 +3.2
- Mike Wells (Colts/ESPN) 26,121 to 26,785 +2.5%
- Phil Richards 2,937 to 3,005 +2.3%
- Kyle Neddenriep (Preps) 11,217 to 11,476 +2.3%
- Phillip B. Wilson 14,886 to 15,214 +2.2%
- Dustin Dopirak (Bton H-T) 7,460 to 7,615 +2.1%
- Curt Cavin (Racing) 12,342 to 12,547 +1.7%
- Terry Hutchens (Fox – IU) 12,777 to 12,880 +0.8%
- David Woods 5,553 to 5,550 -0.1%
- Michael Pointer 3,760 to 3,683 -2.0%
Digital
- Tom Lewis @IndyCornrows 4,066 to 4,327 +6.4%
- Chronic Hoosier (hoosierchronicles.com) 15,892 to 16,316 +2.7%
- Alex Bozich @insidethehall 18,843 to 19,236 +2.1%
- Ken Bikoff @kbikoff 1,894 to 1,927 +1.7%
- Mike Pegram @peegs 13,157 to 13,378 +1.7%
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Some see Twitter as a necessary evil, and other as a fun diversion – something to do during games that allows direct two-way communication. Isn’t that why we got into this business in the first place? What it really allows is brand building with enthusiastic media consumers, and serves as a great feed to see what other media and fans are thinking.