The University of Liverpool’s dedicated twitter news channel @livuninews has hit 10,000 followers.
The channel, set up and operated by the Press Office at the University’s Department of Marketing and Communications, was among the first UK university accounts to segment audience and focus solely on the dissemination of research and news.
Established in August 2011, it has built a high profile following including major journals, such as the BMJ; funding councils, such as the BBSRC; national and international media; as well as businesses, policy makers, academics, and academic and government institutions from across the globe.
Latest research
Using a mix of media, including video, audio and still images, the channel offers the latest research news and links to media appearances, as well as accessible opinion on breaking stories from the University’s world leading academics.
The channel averages around 200,000 impressions a month (the collective number of people who see the tweets over that time period) and posts several times a day.
Successful tweets include research highlighting the role of medical experimentation on slaves in the American south, which drew 75 retweets, 44 favourites and 16,651 impressions. The story, subsequently published in The Conversation, went on to achieve nearly one million views.
Most read
A tweet covering University research into the first contagious virus on wifi networks was picked up by the BBC and went on to become the most read story on the BBC website that day. A number of external organisations have since been in contact to explore further collaborations.
Other research suggesting only 5% of Merseyside gulls prefer fish to chips attracted 39 retweets, 17 favourites and 12,524 impressions, while the story about 91-year-old Ron Webster returning his library book 61 years late –and being let off the £4,000 fine – drew 45 retweets and 25 favourites.
@livuninews is a sister channel to the main University twitter account, @livuni – also operated by the Press team – which is aimed at a student audience and currently totals more than 33,000 followers.
As well as many subsidiary accounts representing almost all areas of campus activity, the University maintains a main Facebook page, Youtube channel and Instagram account.
You can follow @livuninews here: https://twitter.com/livuninews