Wadden Islands popular
When you sort the list by the number of Twitter accounts per municipality, it is logical that the large municipalities are at the top. It is more interesting to relate the number of Twitter accounts in a municipality to the number of inhabitants of that municipality.
It turns out that the top 10 includes three of the five Wadden Islands. Ameland is well ahead with a percentage of 28%. Extrapolated to the total number of active Twitter accounts, it turns out that more people identify themselves from Ameland than there are residents on Ameland! So it probably doesn't only concern residents, but also visitors and enthusiasts. Vlieland is in second place with 14.7% (59%) and Texel is in fifteenth place with 4.3% (17%).
municipality twitter table 1
Table 1: top 10 number of Twitter accounts per municipality, percentage compared to number of residents and list to data extrapolated to total number of active Twitter accounts
On gemeentebuzz.nl you can look up the exact percentages per municipality and you can also make a comparison between the municipalities. The ranking on the size of the conversation about municipalities in February can also be found there. If you have additions or comments on these figures, please let us know via the site or via a comment below this article.
Municipalities are followed more than big brands
The number of followers of a municipality and the number of people that follow the municipality together provide a measure for the behavior of a municipality on social media. By merging the data of socialmediameetlat.nl and OBI4wan, a list is now available with all Twitter accounts of municipalities. No Twitter account can be found for 14 of the 411 municipalities. This means that 97% of the municipalities have a Twitter account. Please note; not all the municipal accounts that we found mention in their profile that it concerns the official account of the municipality.
Newcom's research shows that municipalities are now followed more than a year ago. Municipalities now appear to be in fourth place of organizations that are followed via social media. Municipalities are followed more often than, for example, well-known brands and political parties. My research into whether citizens actually need their municipality on social media clearly showed that 89% of respondents (n=705) want to communicate with their municipality!
On average, the municipalities are followed by 1,485 accounts. Here too, we see that the Wadden Islands have the most followers in relation to the number of inhabitants. Vlieland is in first place this time with 30%, Ameland in second with 17% and Terschelling in fourth with 14%.
municipality twitter table 2
Table 2: top 10 Twitter accounts with the most followers in percentage terms compared to the number of inhabitants
However, municipalities continue to transmit without following up themselves
The research into the use of social media by municipalities (2012) already showed that municipalities mainly use social media to inform citizens (60%). Only 8% indicated that they often use social media to interact with residents. Nevertheless, in 2012, 33% of municipalities indicated that they often use social media to know what is going on. However, you could argue that in order to know what is going on, you would have to follow a number of people.
An analysis of the Twittering part of the inhabitants of Achtkarspelen, for example, showed that this group mainly consists of the bearers of the community (the volunteers, the directors of the associations, shopkeepers, involved parents in schools), the youth and a number of enthusiastic tweeters. If you can use these people as eyes and ears of your own environment, then the signaling capacity is quite good.
In practice, however, it appears that municipalities follow an average of 177 accounts. Haaksbergen, Zevenaar and Oisterwijk are in joint first place here. They follow 8% of the number of inhabitants in numbers. There are 86 municipalities (one fifth of the municipalities!) that follow ten or fewer accounts. Three hundred municipalities (73%) follow so few accounts that they follow less than 1% of the number of inhabitants in numbers.
municipality twitter table 3
Table 3: Top 10 Twitter accounts that follow the most accounts in percentage terms compared to the number of inhabitants
It is striking that Marum is the only municipality that appears in all top tens: they apparently have both a large potential reach, as well as a large number of followers and they themselves also follow many accounts. And that with 10,000 inhabitants!
Conclusion: municipalities that do not take
The figures show that Twitter is potentially an important channel for almost all municipalities. On average, a municipality can reach 10% and regularly even 20% of its residents via Twitter. As a service channel (webcare for customer questions) it does not seem that big in terms of the number of residents. However, due to the growing number of customer questions via the channel, its importance is increasing. As a signalling channel (webcare for interpretation) it can already be of great importance. By following different accounts within your municipality, you as a municipality can find out more quickly what is going on in the community.
Finally, Twitter of course offers opportunities as a communication channel (webcare for sending), given the large number of followers. However, if you are going to send information – please not via an automated RSS feed! – then keep in mind that you will receive questions and reactions in return!