{"id":1748,"date":"2012-09-05T10:00:14","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T00:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mappingonlinepublics.net\/?p=1748"},"modified":"2012-09-05T10:02:58","modified_gmt":"2012-09-05T00:02:58","slug":"atnix-australian-twitter-news-index-week-352012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mappingonlinepublics.net\/dev\/2012\/09\/05\/atnix-australian-twitter-news-index-week-352012\/","title":{"rendered":"ATNIX: Australian Twitter News Index, Week 35\/2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the somewhat delayed Australian Twitter<\/em> News Index for week 34, this week\u2019s edition is significantly more timely \u2013 though it must be said that after the two very exciting weeks we\u2019ve had, week 35 turns out considerably more sedate. For the moment, at least, it looks like we\u2019re more or less back to normal\u2026<\/p>\n

Standard background information:<\/strong> this analysis is based on tracking all tweets which contain links pointing to the URLs of a large selection of leading Australian news and opinion sites. For technical reasons, it does not contain \u2018button\u2019 retweets, but manual retweets (\u201cRT @user \u2026\u201d) are included. Datasets for those sites which cover more than just news and opinion (abc.net.au, sbs.com.au, ninemsn.com.au) are filtered to exclude irrelevant sections of those sites (e.g. abc.net.au\/tv, catchup.ninemsn.com.au). For our analysis of \u2018opinion\u2019 link sharing, we include only those sub-sections of mainstream sites which contain opinion and commentary (e.g. abc.net.au\/unleashed, articles on theaustralian.com.au which include \u2018\/opinion\u2019 in the URL), and compare them with dedicated opinion and commentary sites.<\/p>\n

See the posts tagged \u2018ATNIX\u2019 on this site for a full collection of previous results.<\/a><\/p>\n

ATNIX Week 35: 27 Aug.-2 Sep. 2012<\/h1>\n

Given that weeks 33 and 34 showed some comparatively unusual patterns driven largely by a handful of major (in part also international) stories \u2013 the Assange saga, the Leigh Sales\/Tony Abbott interview on 7.30<\/em> \u2013 we\u2019ve got to go back at least three weeks to find a comparably \u2018normal\u2019 news week on Twitter<\/em>. We captured some 142,000 links to our news sites this week (which is actually a comparatively low amount), and the usual pecking order amongst the leading news sites is restored as well \u2013 after last week\u2019s very strong performance by ABC News<\/em>, the Sydney Morning Herald<\/em> returns to the lead, by almost 2000 tweets.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This return to normalcy is felt especially strongly amongst the opinion and commentary sites and sections, though. With 18,800 tweets sharing links to these URLs this week, there are some 20% fewer opinion tweets this week \u2013 the vast spike in links to the SMH<\/em>\u2019s coverage of new data retention laws has washed out of the system, and the SMH<\/em>\u2019s opinion marketshare has dropped back down to 23%. That\u2019s still somewhat above the long-term average, but leaves substantially more space to its competitors. Interestingly, it\u2019s The Age<\/em> which benefits more from this than usual runner-up The Conversation<\/em>: the latter clocks up its usual 2,600-odd tweets per week, but The Age<\/em>\u2019s opinion section has a particularly strong week this time around (as we\u2019ll see in the day-to-day figures below). Conversely, Crikey<\/em> falls back from its unusually strong, First Dog on the Moon-driven second place last week to a much more normal fourth position.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On to the daily patterns, then. For news, we see what is a very common trajectory for SMH<\/em> and ABC News<\/em>: a strong Monday, and then a slow decline through the rest of the week; both sites are essentially equal throughout the working week. The only slightly interesting feature here is a small spike in news.com.au<\/em> links on Thursday, 30 Aug. \u2013 this is driven by the site\u2019s coverage of TV presenter and model Charlotte Dawson\u2019s attempted suicide following severe bullying on Twitter<\/em>. The major story on this (a \u2018special investigation<\/a>\u2019 on trolling) was shared some 600 times, while a number of related pieces picked up another 500+ shares, easily accounting for the 1,000 additional tweets mentioning news.com.au<\/em> that day. (It\u2019s interesting that of the leading sites, news.com.au<\/em> seems to be the only one receiving additional links from this story \u2013 as a more middlebrow news site, compared to SMH<\/em> and ABC News<\/em>, perhaps it is the more \u2018natural\u2019 place to look for what is at least in part also a celebrity story?)<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The daily patterns for opinion and commentary sites and sections look a little more messy this week. There are no major spikes as we encountered them during the previous two weeks; none of the sites make it past 900 tweets per day, in fact. There are minor spikes for the Sydney Morning Herald<\/em> opinion section on Thursday, and for The Age<\/em>\u2019s opinion section on Saturday (which is unusual, given that weekends are traditionally low on opinion sharing):<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Of these, the SMH<\/em> spikelet is driven by no one topic in particular, with stories on political gifts, the deaths of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, and Gina Rinehart\u2019s commends on welfare each picking up between 45 and 80 tweets each. The Age<\/em> spike on Saturday is substantially more pronounced, however \u2013 and is driven solely by Virginia Trioli\u2019s opinion article, calling out Peter Reith on his attempts to rewrite history by downplaying the Howard government\u2019s \u2018children overboard\u2019 lies<\/a>. Some 550 tweets, or around two thirds of all tweets linking to The Age<\/em>\u2019s opinion section that day, referenced this piece. Finally, Crikey<\/em> also experiences a minor spike on 29\/30 August \u2013 driven by a combination of multiple stories on the staff cuts at Fairfax<\/a> (300+ tweets) and a piece on the U.S. ambassador\u2019s assurances, in an exclusive interview<\/a>, that the country has no interest in extraditing Julian Assange (170+ tweets).<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s it for this week \u2013 a somewhat quieter one, but we\u2019ll see what the future holds\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the somewhat delayed Australian Twitter News Index for week 34, this week\u2019s edition is significantly more timely \u2013 though it must be said that after the two very exciting weeks we\u2019ve had, week 35 turns out considerably more sedate. For the moment, at least, it looks like we\u2019re more or less back to normal\u2026 … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “ATNIX: Australian Twitter News Index, Week 35\/2012”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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