Trade Unions
30 Nov 2019

Which unions are the most influential on Twitter in 2019?


In November every year, I carry out an analysis of the influence of twitter accounts for all the TUC-affiliated unions. I compile the results into a league table, so unions can measure their progress over the last 12 months.

This is the eighth year I’ve been doing this analysis, and previous results can be found on this blog (201220132014201520162017 and 2018),

As with last year, I’ve used Kred, a service that attempts to measure social influence of Twitter accounts by analysing data such as Retweets, Replies, Mentions and Followers. The influence score is scored on a scale of 1,000. Kred takes a longer term view than the now defunct Klout platform I previously used. This means that improvements take longer to filter through into the score.

No Union Name Kred Notes
1 (1) Unite @unitetheunion 966  
2 (2) PCS @pcs_union 962  
2 (3) FBU @fbunational 962  
4 (4) UNISON @unisontweets 952  
5 (5) PFA @pfa 948  
6 (7) Chartered Society of Physiotherapy @thecsp 934  
7 (8) UCU @ucu 933  
7 (9) Equity @EquityUK 933  
9 (10) NUJ @NUJofficial 921  
10 (11) RMT @RMTunion 920  
11 (12) RCM @MidwivesRCM 917  
12 (14) CWU @CWUnews 906  
13 (16) Musicians’ Union @WeAreTheMU 899  
14 (14) BDA @BDA_Dietitians 898  
15 (17) NASUWT @NASUWT 894  
16 (21) GMB @GMB_union 893  
17 (18) Society of Radiographers @SCoRMembers 890  
18 (19) TSSA @TSSAunion 868  
19 (20) BECTU  (Section of Prospect) @bectu 857 Still active after merger.
20 (26) USDAW @UsdawUnion 847  
21 (23) Community @CommunityUnion 846  
22 (22) The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain @TheWritersGuild 843  
23 (24) NAHT @NAHTnews 837  
24 (24) Prospect @ProspectUnion 832  
25 (27) BALPA @BALPApilots 799  
26 (23) ASLEF @ASLEFunion 797  
26 (34) NEU @NEUnion 797  
28 (28) NAPO @Napo_News 788  
28 (32) AFA CWA @afa_cwa 788 International
30 (30) EIS @EISUnion 787  
31 (31) Nautilus Intl @nautilusint 779 International
32 (33) Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists @CollegePodiatry 763  
33 (35) FDA @FDA_union 759  
34 (-) Artists' Union England @artistsunione 747  
35 (41) POA @POAUnion 715  
35 (-) NSEAD @nsead1 715  
37 (40) HCSA @hcsanews 708  
38 (36) Accord @GedNichols 702  
39 (37) UCAC @AthrawonCymru 692  
40 (39) BFAWU @bfawu1 691  
41 (38) BIOS @followBIOS 690  
42 (43) AEP @aepsychologists 612  
43 (44) NARS @NARSnewsinfo 571  
44 (45) NGSU @TimPoil 420  
45 (46) Aegis @aegistheunion 386 New Twitter username.
- URTU @URTUonline   No Tweets in the last 1,000 days.
- Advance No Twitter    
- NACODS No Twitter    
- NUM No Twitter    

Source: Kred, Nov 2019


Unite come top again, with a very impressive score of 966. Unite have come top in this analysis since it started in 2012. PCS retain their 2nd spot, but now share it with the FBU. This is a very impressive performance from the FBU, who punch well above their weight when considering their size.

UNISON and the PFA both remain in fourth and fifth. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, UCU, Equity, NUJ and RMT make up the rest of the top ten respectively.

 

Biggest risers

Union Positions moved up
NEU 8
POA, USDAW 6
GMB 5

 

The biggest riser is the newly formed National Education Union (NEU), jumping up eight places to 26th. This is understandable, as the ATL and NUT have now formally merged. Expect this relatively new twitter account to grow in influence over the next couple of years.

USDAW see an impressive six place jump up to 20th. The POA jump up from 41st to 35th. Another notable riser is the GMB who move up five spots to 16th.

There are not as many large downward movements this year. The biggest fall is for The British and Irish Orthoptic Society, who move down three places to 41st.

There are two new entries this year as well. I’ve added in the Artists' Union England, a recent affiliate. They debut at a respectable 34th. I’ve also added another affiliate, The National Society for Education in Art & Design, who debut close behind in joint 35th.


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