TWANK! Pharma Twitter Rankings

This was supposed to happen Monday, but when I hit “Publish” all of the content of the posting disappeared and only the title was sent out.  It was not a good way to start the week.  I have recovered – somewhat. But here today is the replacement posting.

Last February, Eye on FDA published the first TWANK, Twitter Rankings for Pharma. Last month we took a look at the rankings of pharma and YouTube channels, today the focus is on Twitter.  For this TWANK ranking, the data was gleaned on June 15 – therefore there will be a change in the numbers shown from then until now.

In February 2011, there were 113 pharma twitter feeds managed by 35 companies. Today, the number of feeds has increased to 154 feeds run by 39 companies.  Some of the increase in feeds represents new feeds and some represent new discoveries of pharma companies who have been using Twitter (in fact, there were some companies that were completely new to me).  Medical device feeds were included.  Some companies have substantially increased the number of feeds that they have.  Twitter has become an important platform not only to communicate, but as a driver of traffic to other sites, as well as providing support in fostering relationships that are such a crucial part of social media.  While many pharmas have shied away due to regulatory phobias, others are embracing it with gusto.  And it is perhaps noteworthy that, to my observation, there have been no regulatory actions vis a vis a pharma or device company regarding twitter, as yet.

The flocking to Twitter in general, and the increase in the number of feeds by some companies in particular, is exemplary of the fact that social media, by its nature, is becoming more granular.   Targeted messages for targeted audiences.  It allows for the opportunity for “niche-casting” rather than broadcasting.  In other words, the traditional way to get a message out was to buy an ad, for example, on the side of a bus and ride your message around to a few million people around town in order to reach the few thousand to whom you really wanted to communicate.  Today, social media offers the option to reach out directly to the few thousand – a potential savings of both time and money.

First, what companies have the most twitter feeds?

• Roche – 23 feeds
• Pfizer – 21 feeds
• Bayer -15 feeds
• Sanofiaventis – 13 feeds
• AstraZeneca – 10 feeds

Second, let’s look at the top five feeds with the greatest number of followers, remembering that while numbers can be important, the quality of followers is just as important, if not more important, than the quantity.  The top five feeds by numbers changed since the posting in February and included:

• Pfizer_news – 16,327 followers
• Novartis – 13,326 followers
• Roche_com – 10,820 followers
• GEHealthcare – 9,432 followers
• GSKUS – 8,462

Those feeds with the highest KLOUT score also saw change from February.  KLOUT scoring utilizes a number of factors to assess a score.  Note that the highest KLOUT scores do not directly correlate to number of followers.  The top five at the time of this reading were:

• GEHealthcare – 60
• Novartis – 55
• Pfizer – 54
• Roche_com – 53
• Boehringer – 53

One thing to note from the increases in the number of feeds.  As one can see below, several companies are managing many feeds that span a range of types – from geographically based, to those speaking to followings who are using specific products, as well as those who face particular conditions.  All in all, across geographies and disciplines, management of the twitter feeds can represent a challenge.  That means that while it may be important to speak to various specific audiences, it may be equally as important (or more so) to devise and enunciate guidelines within a company for doing so.

Here are the listings for this installment of TWANK.  Please by all means email me, leave a comment or DM me on Twitter with feeds I have overlooked (pharma and device only), or with any errors spotted here in the chart.  The next TWANK will be in January 2011.

Enjoy and happy tweeting out there.