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dan barker Profile picture
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30 Dec 20, 16 tweets, 11 min read
Twitter has a fairly decent tool showing you which of your tweets people find most interesting. You can find it at analytics.twitter.com

Here's a thread of tweets over the last year with my monthly stats. Do share yours as a reply/quote retweet if willing. Image
This was most popular in December last year: A tweet about George Michael with 2.91 million impressions.

I guess so popular because lots of people like George Michael, it was the anniversary of his death, & the story of his secret philanthropy is lovely.

Image
This was most popular in January: The true story of Michel Thomas. The tweet had 500k impressions, & the thread many more.

A couple of publishers got in touch asking if I'd write it up, and a conference wanted permission to use it. I just love the story.

Image
This tweet was most popular in February. It had 1.14 million impressions. It was a fairly obvious joke about Tesco, but sadly Tesco set their lawyers on me believing people would not recognise it as a joke, & Twitter deleted the images.

Image
This tweet was most popular in March, with 460k impressions:

It was just a throwaway joke really, and only popular as it was in reply to a very popular tweet from @joelycett, a famous comedian, who has followers who like jokes (even poor ones like mine). Image
This was most popular in April - another throwaway joke, about David Icke & Nigel Farage wearing the same outfit - 128k views.

I tweeted more that month, I guess because it was the first full month of lockdown, & I often use Twitter at a computer.

Image
This was most popular in May - another reply. 150k views. Again, this was popular because it replied to a popular tweet.

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This long thread was most popular in June. The initial tweet had 4.3 million views, the thread has had almost 20 million views (~18m in the month).

It trended on Twitter, got in a few newspapers, etc. I like photos, and I thought this was interesting.

Image
This was most popular in July, with 133k impressions. It was basically explaining one of the government's many communications messups, and I think popular because it helped explain that something which looked really weird was actually fairly benign.

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This was top in August, with 232k impressions. Eamonn's had a bad year hasn't he? The 5G conspiracy thing, losing his slot on This Morning.

I think people think of him as a strange man, and are happy to share content that reinforces that impression.

Image
This was top in September. On the day of 'the curfew', I'd gone for a walk around 10pm. I'd spotted these guys peering in doorways, and realised they were 'Covid Inspectors'.

These photos were in various papers. The tweet got 1.9 million impressions.

Image
This was most popular in October - 391k views.

The phrase 'Secret Cinema' ended up trending as a result of this as a few high profile accounts reshared it with negative comment. People were upset at how much money they got vs perceived cultural impact.

Image
This was most popular in November. 3.6m views.

I'd shared it a few years ago, and my memory was pinged about it with Joe Biden being in the news so much, on the anniversary of the note. A few news articles quoted it, hence the higher impression number.

Image
December so far, this tweet has had most impressions (182k). I guess because it is a tiny bit ethereal. TBH I share lots of photos and was surprised this got shared/viewed as much as it had. I hope the fox is ok - hungry with few restaurants open.

Twitter Analytics also shows you a 'top new follower' for each month. Mine were: @James_Strahan, @louistheroux, @yo, @tomruzyllo, @BootstrapCook, @danwootton, @JamesMelville, @radioleary, @joannachiu.

An odd dinner party, but one I'd happily go to if we're ever allowed again.
Hopefully something here was useful / interesting. Do share yours if you're willing - you find it all at analytics.twitter.com.

Either way, I hope you've had a good year. People complain about Twitter a lot, but I find it interesting, and useful, and enjoy following you all.

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More from @danbarker

dan barker Profile picture
1 Jan
It's been quiet in London again.

I'd been planning to go for a long walk by the coast if restrictions lifted, but they did not.

So we spent a few hours walking round the 14 London Railway Terminus Stations instead

It's a nice walk: a 16 mile loop you could start at any station Image
We started at Charing Cross.

The 'cross' at the front there is actually a replica. The original stood to the south of Trafalgar Square.

It was one of 12 'Eleanor Crosses', marking the funeral path of Quean Eleanor, on her way to Westminster Abbey, after she unexpectedly died. Image
From there we walked round via the river, and Parliament, up past Westminster Abbey, to Victoria. ImageImageImageImage
Read 36 tweets
dan barker Profile picture
11 Aug 20
You've probably seen tweets about a YouGov survey which says 'almost half of Britons have little to no sympathy' for 'the migrants' crossing the channel.

On the left is one of the tweets, and on the right is how YouGov presented it.

It is worth looking a bit deeper...
As background, you will know that many people have trouble feeling empathy for large groups.

This is one of the reasons that charity campaigns use images of individuals rather than groups.

It is why the image on the left feels somehow more harrowing than the image on the right.
You will also know that there is occasionally debate over the words 'migrant', 'refugee', and 'asylum seeker', and that in this case YouGov have chosen to ask about 'the migrants'.

Maybe this wording & the 'group empathy' issue make a difference, maybe they does not.
Read 16 tweets
dan barker Profile picture
1 Aug 20
Quite a lot of confusion about this.

Here is a very short thread explaining it a bit.
Historically when you went from Website A to Website B, an http referer header told Website B 'This visitor came from WebsiteA.com, and they were looking at a page at '/category/dresses/?sort=low-to-high' (called the 'path', but most users think of it as the page).
For years that was absolute norm; Google even allowed sites to see which keywords users had searched for before reaching their site. (still do if you pay for ads)

When more sites started moving to https, in most cases, visits between https & http, the 'page' info would be hidden
Read 10 tweets
dan barker Profile picture
20 Jul 20
Here's a nice little case study in what used to be called 'fake news'. It may be worth reading if you've seen that '200,000 lockdown deaths' number.

This is a short thread on how the tweet below is wrong, and how the Telegraph headline it misquotes was wrong. Image
Here's how the editor of the Telegraph article summarises it.

The article uncovered predictions from an official report put together back in April. Image
Here's how The Metro summarised The Telegraph's article.

Various other articles also summarised it in a similar way. Image
Read 13 tweets
dan barker Profile picture
15 Jun 20
A few weeks ago I was in London for the day. I took the first train down, & finished work by early afternoon.

My return train was at 8:46pm, so I spent the afternoon going round the Monopoly route.

I thought it would be interesting to photograph London at such a unique time.
Lambeth North isn't on the Monopoly board, but 10 years ago, Ordnance Survey were asked to plot its location (as part of a PR stunt, basically).

They decided the 'Go' tile was Lambeth North Tube Station, not far from Westminster Bridge.
Old Kent Road.
Read 33 tweets
dan barker Profile picture
26 Mar 20
Every few weeks I check to make sure this house is still on the market in Newcastle.

Something here for everyone.
Every room has so much going on. In the bear's bedroom: anime bikini wallpaper??? A crystal solar system light? Metal flowers??
The pool table room is called "Billy's Bar".
There are chandeliers *in* the curtains. The curtains are tied back with door handles.
Behind the sofa - as you find in everyone's home bar - there is... a swimming pool.
Read 14 tweets

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