TWITTER ANALYSIS | June 22, 2011

@NitrogenCycle Twitter Account

Content Analysis Project

KEYWORD/HASHTAG ANALYSIS

The LUSA team provided us with a list of keywords and hashtags they were interested in evaluating. The goal was to learn which were the most viral (meaning that tweets using these keywords or hashtags were retweeted more often) and which, if any, were being used by the largest percentage of medium and/or high authority Twitterers. Here is a list of all the keywords we were asked to test: Fertilizer Fertilizer runoff Dead zone Farm runoff Sustainable agriculture Sustainable ag Farm bill Algae Livestock CAFO Pollution Nitrogen And here is a list of all the hashtags we were asked to test: #Water #H20 #Ag #Sustag #Biofuels #Ethanol #Farmbill
CONTACT Gaelen OConnell Digital Media Manager 415-397-5000 x303 gaelen@resource-media.org resource-media.org


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

Results Tweets containing these keywords or hashtags were retweeted most often out of those tested: #Sustag (retweeted an average of 44.83% of the time) Farm Runoff (retweeted an average of 40.86% of the time) Sustainable Ag (retweeted an average of 39.19% of the time) #Ethanol (retweeted an average of 37.58% of the time) #FarmBill (retweeted an average of 34% of the time) Tweets containing the keywords or hashtags we tested had a retweet average of 27.87%. Tweets containing these keywords or hashtags were publically replied to most often out of those tested: Nitrogen (replied to an average of 22.43% of the time) Dead zone (replied to an average of 20.18% of the time) #H20 (replied to an average of 15.91% of the time) Fertilizer (replied to an average of 13.36% of the time) Tweets containing the keyword or hashtag we tested were publically replied to an average of 11.34% of the time. Tweets containing these keywords or hashtags were sent by higher authority Twitterers than all the others we tested: #Sustag (65.85% of those using this hashtag in their tweets were medium authority Twitterers meaning they have an authority ranking of 5 or higher out of 10) Farm Runoff (50% of those using this hashtag in their tweets were medium authority Twitterers meaning they have an authority ranking of 5 or higher out of 10) Tweets containing most of the keywords and hastags tested were being sent by low authority Twitterers. Results Summary and Recommendations Tweets containing keywords and hashtag variations for the term Sustainable Agriculture (examples = #SustAg, and Sustainable Ag) as well as the keyword Farm Runoff are the most viral and tend to be used by higher authority Twitters. When applicable, consider weaving them into @NitrogenCycles tweets to maximize your chances of those tweets getting retweeted.

LUSA June 22, 2011


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

Tweets containing keywords and hashtags about water (examples = #H20 and Dead zone) tend to generate Twitter conversations. @NitrogenCycle should consider weave them into tweets to spark more dialogue.

LUSA June 22, 2011


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ACCOUNT ANALYSIS

The LUSA team asked us evaluate their @NitrogenCycle Twitter account content and to pay close attention to the kind of content that got retweeted. We analyzed all of @NitorgenCycles retweets from a six-month period (November 12, 2010 to May 13, 2011) and our results can be found below.

Retweet stats 52 of @NitrogenCycles tweets in a six-month timeframe (from 11/12/2010 5/13/2011) were retweeted. We used TweetStats to determine that @NitrogenCycle tweets approximately 288 times every six months, so about 18% of @NitrogenCycles tweets in that timeframe were retweeted. 33 of those 52 retweets (about 63.5%) contained a link, meaning 19 (about 36.5%) contained original content (i.e. no links). We were able to identify the sources for 31 of those 33 retweeted tweets that contained links and here is the breakdown of the number of retweets from each source:

LUSA June 22, 2011


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

The number and percentage of retweets with articles from high authority publications depends on how you define the term high authority publication. In this research we defined the term to include these sources: Bloomberg News, Guardian, NPR, NYT, Science Daily, The Atlantic, The Economist, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Based on our definition we found that 14 about 45% of the retweets with links from identified sources were from high authority publications. Retweet Stats Summary and Recommendations Tweets containing links are almost twice as likely to get retweeted than those that dont contain links although links dont necessarily need to come from high-profile publications to get retweeted. Consider using links in tweets the majority of the time but also peppering in original content (aka. tweets with no links) for variety. And while its definitely a best practice to include links from high authority publications, but note that tweets with links from other sources also get retweeted about half the time. Retweet content Here is @NitrogenCycles most retweeted tweet. 4 times: RT @nitrogencycle: Europe may be moving to heighten standards for #biofuels next year to ensure they have meaningful benefits over oil. http://ow.ly/3tpJV. Source = Bloomberg News.

Results Summary and Recommendations The majority of the 52 NitrogenCycle retweets we looked at in the six-month timeframe got retweeted one or two times, maximum. Try tracking how many retweets each of your tweets gets over time and taking note of which ones perform the best. Common @NitrogenCycle retweeted tweet themes New studies Dead zone Biofuels standards in Europe Economics (example = food prices) Ethanol-related posts Biofuels-related posts Water pollution-related posts Climate/climate change/ climate protection-related posts Tweets that contained links to articles Results Summary and Recommendations

LUSA June 22, 2011


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

Twitterers are interested in the latest news so tweets containing new study data tend to get retweeted. Tweets about ethanol and biofuels tend to generate retweets as well as water-related tweets. Lastly, Twitterers are interested in sharing content that they can relate to. Tweets about food prices and climate impact everyone regardless of their race, religion, gender, geographic location, etc. so they tend to perform well in terms of generating retweets, too. @NitrogenCycles most frequent retweeters @MichaelRDimock (9 of 52 retweets)

@DonEWG (6 of 52 retweets)

@GoodFoodJen (5 of 52 retweets)

@ML2Rconsultancy (4 of 52 retweets)

LUSA June 22, 2011


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

@NitrogenCycles highest authority retweeters (authority scale = 1-10 with a score of 10 being the highest authority score a Twitterer can receive) @XtyMiller (8 of 10)

@FairFoodFight (7 of 10)

@Nyculla (7 of 10)

LUSA June 22, 2011


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

@MichaelRDimock (6 of 10)

Results Summary and Recommendations Twitterers who frequently retweet @NitrogenCycles content and those defined as high authority retweeters are your allies. Continue working hard to build strong long-term relationships with them by engaging in the following: Retweeting their content Replying to their tweets Recommending them for #FF and #EcoMondays Introducing @NitrogenCycle and suggesting partnership ideas Sending them potential tweet content Asking them to retweet @NitrogenCycle content

MichaelRDimock stands out as one to target due to his behavior to retweet @NitrogenCycles tweets and his high authority status. Retweeting behavior 25% of all @NitrogenCycles tweets are retweets of content from other Twitterers. @NitrogenCycle most often retweets:

LUSA June 22, 2011


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

Replying behavior 5.57% of all @NitrogenCycles tweets are public replies to other Twitter users. @NitrogenCycle most often replies to:

Results Summary and Recommendations @NitrogenCycle is doing a good job retweeting other Twitterers tweets, but should consider engaging more in conversations (@mentions) to build strong relationships. Follower Growth Over Time We used TwitterCounter to track and analyze @NitrogenCycles Twitter follower growth over the past three months. It appears @NitrogenCycle was enjoying new follower growth up until June 9, although the

LUSA June 22, 2011


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

difference between the rise and stagnation points on the graph was an average of only one follower per day. So @NitrogenCycle went from gaining an average of one new follower a day prior to June 9th to gaining an average of no new followers per day after June 9th.

Have any of your behaviors changed since June 9th? Think about for example how often youre spending on Twitter, when youre retweeting, the content in your tweets, how often youre retweeting the content of other Twitterers, how often youre replying to other peoples tweets, how often youre recommending Twitterers for things like #FF or #EcoMondays and asking them to do the same for you, etc. I analyzed patterns for how often @NitrogenCycle followed new Twitterers and how often @NitrogenCycle tweeted and couldnt find a correlation between these behavior patterns and the loss of the average of one new Twitterer per day since June 9th. I will be able to use Tweetstats to check @NitrogenCycles engagement behavior and the timing of tweets in another month (so far the tools results only go back to May).

LUSA June 22, 2011

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@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

SIMILAR TWITTER ACCOUNTS ANALYSIS

We took a look at Twitter accounts for Don Carr (@DonEWG) and Michael Dimock (@MichaelRDimock) to learn about their retweet content and identify key characteristics of their best retweets.

Retweet stats 208 of @DonEWGs tweets from a six-month timeframe (11/12/2010 5/13/2011) were retweeted. We used TweetStats to determine that @DonEWG tweets approximately 1,038 times every six months, so about 20% of @DonEWGs tweets from that timeframe were retweeted. 160 of those 208 retweets (or about 77%) contained links, meaning 48 (about 23%) contained original content (i.e. no links) Retweet content Below are @DonEWGs most retweeted tweets. 21 times: RT @bittman RT @DonEWG: Why Cut Subsidies to Multinational Corporations When You Can Cut Food Stamps Instead? http://bit.ly/h0QI1A. Source = Minyanville.com. 6 times: RT @DonEWG: #Corn growers' profits to top $200 an acre http://bit.ly/fRuZt8 and we need to continue #ethanol and #farm subsidies to the Source = Agrimoney.com. 5 times: RT @DonEWG: So we can't pay $7.4 billion to help 9/11 workers but will include the same amount in biodiesel and #ethanol tax credits? #corn. No Source. 4 times: RT @DonEWG: NPR: If Your Meat Prices Rise You Can Blame #Ethanol http://n.pr/fnejk7 #corn #agchat. Source = NPR. 4 times: NPR: If Your Meat Prices Rise You Can Blame #Ethanol http://n.pr/fnejk7 #agchat | Meat industry: ethanol overprotected by Gov. Source = NPR.com.

Results Summary and Recommendations You can see Twitterers tend to retweet @DonEWGs tweets related to economics, whether theyre about subsidies for corporations, farmers profits, tax credits or a rise in food prices. Keep economics in mind when crafting tweets if you want them to be more viral.
LUSA June 22, 2011 11


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

Common retweeted tweet themes They tend to have a financial component (examples themes = subsidies for farmers, food prices, how jobs are impacted by food, ag taxes, ag funding, etc.) Second to tweets that had a financial component the next most retweeted tweet themes were environmental and public and public health impacts They contain links (about 77% of the time) Common sources for @DonEWGs retweeted tweets that contained links:

(#1 most retweeted source) Minyanville The Daily Feed: http://www.minyanville.com/dailyfeed/ Environmental Working Group Agriculture Website: http://www.ewg.org/agmag/ Washington Post Green: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/green/ Obama FoodORama: http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/ NPR: http://www.npr.org/ Grist: http://www.grist.org/ LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/ Agrimoney: http://www.agrimoney.com/ (#9 most retweeted source) Fort Hunt Patch: http://forthunt.patch.com/

Hashtags @DonEWG uses most often: #corn #ethanol #agchat #farmbill #ethanol #foodbill #organic #teaparty #profood #biochat Retweeting behavior 41+% of all @DonEWGs tweets were retweets of other Twitterers content. @DonEWG most often retweets these people:

LUSA June 22, 2011

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@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

Replying behavior Almost 18% of all @DonEWGs tweets are public replies (aka. @mentions) to other Twitter users. @DonEWG most often replies to:

Results Summary @DonEWG engages often on Twitter both retweeting other Twitterers content often and taking time to reply to @mentions.

LUSA June 22, 2011

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@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

Retweet stats 147 of @MichaelRDimocks tweets from a six-month timeframe (11/12/2010 5/13/2011) were retweeted. We used TweetStats to determine that @MichaelRDimock tweets approximately 636 times every six months, so about 23% of @MichaelRDimock tweets from that timeframe were retweeted. 86 of those 147 retweets (about 58.5%) contained links, meaning 61 (about 41.5%) contained original content (i.e. no links) Retweet Content Below are @MichaelRDimocks most retweeted tweets.

5 times: RT @MichaelRDimock: "Ours is not the task of fixing the world all at once but of stretching out 2 mend the part that's within our reach. No source/original content. 3 times: RT @MichaelRDimock: next civil rights issue...should be proper access 2 food &...a requirement that every child receives a food education. No source/original content. 3 times: RT @MichaelRDimock: Now that is bad news:( RT @jane_black: 26 million Americans have diabetes. 79 million are "pre-diabetic. http://ow.ly/3KRz9." Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 3 times: RT @MichaelRDimock: RT @ObamaFoodorama: WH Saturday: Anti-GE food rally sponsored by @organicconsumer w/ @dennis_kucinich http://tinyurl.com/45cvtvc. Source: ObamaFoodORama. 3 times: RT @MichaelRDimock: System change at work! See it in stories here RT @FarmtoSchool: Farm to School Routes newsletter http://bit.ly/eOaIrn. Source = Farm to School. 3 times: RT @MichaelRDimock: WKKF mtg: We've learned in LA that farm 2 WIC value chains works. San Francisco San Diego Fresno & Sac need to do Source = ?

Common retweeted tweet themes The health of food/the healthy food movement. Example = promoting healthy food for children/schools References to healthy food thought leaders and their work The impacts good food (and bad food) have on society
LUSA June 22, 2011 14


@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

Food systems Food prices Sustainable ag/sustainable farming examples Research on how what we eat affects the environment Ag policy

Results Summary @MichaelRDimock has a special niche in the sustainable ag community. He tends to focus on how food impacts health, paying particular attention to the next generation. He also uses tweets to promote top healthy food thought leaders in our society by sharing their inspirational quotes, ideas, articles, etc. Top sources used in retweeted tweets: NPR Grist Roots of Change (5 of the 86 retweets containing links) Farm to School Hashtags used most often #env #food #nefoodsummit #Monsanto Retweeting behavior Almost 63% of all @MichaelRDimocks tweets were retweets of other Twitterers content. @MichaelRDimock most often retweets:

LUSA June 22, 2011

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@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

Replying behavior Just 3.56% of all @MichaelRDimocks tweets are public replies to other Twitter users. Michael most often replies to:

Results Summary @MichaelRDimock retweets other Twitterers tweets quite often (almost 2/3rds of his tweets) but doesnt engage in public conversations very often.

LUSA June 22, 2011

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@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

ANALYSIS: @NITROGENCYCLE VS. @DONEWG VS. @MICHAELRDIMOCK

Percentage of retweets: @MichaelRDimock has the highest percentage of retweets at 62% - thats almost 2/3rds of his tweets! @NitrogenCycle and @DonEWG have similar percentages of retweets at 26% and 28%, respectively Percentage of public replies (aka @mentions): @DonEWG responds most often to @mentions (22% of the time) @NitrogenCycle responds to @mentions (7% of the time) @MichaelRDimock responds to @mentions extremely rarely (just 2% of the time) Percentage of retweets that contain links: Both @MichaelRDimock and @DonEWG are very similar in the percentage of retweets that contain links 71% and 72%, respectively @NitrogenCycle has a lower percentage of retweets that contain links (63.5%) Results Summary and Recommendations @NitrogenCycle is performing up to par with accounts like @DonEWG and @MichaelRDimock on outreach to other Twitterers (although more conversation and support of your target audience wouldnt hurt) although @NitrogenCycle falls slightly behind in the percentage of its retweeted tweets that contain links. If this concerns you, consider using viral (often retweeted) hashtags and keywords in your tweets, studying the popular content themes of your retweeted tweets and those of @DonEWGs and @MichaelRDimock as well as including links in your tweets the majority of the time.

LUSA June 22, 2011

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@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

BEST PRACTICES FROM TWITTER ACCOUNTS SIMILAR TO @NITROGENCYCLE

@Jambutter 6,211 followers 16,810 tweets

What hes doing right Uses strong keywords in his bio and within his tweets. Examples = #RealFood (25%+ of all tweets containing this hashtag get retweeted), #SmallFarm (43+% of all tweets containing this hashtag get retweeted and the majority of Twitter users creating tweets that include this hashtag are of medium authority), #ProFood (60% of all tweets containing this hashtag get retweeted and the majority of Twitter users creating tweets that include this hashtag are of medium authority). He uses top 10 lists:

He tweets about the economic aspects of his topic:

LUSA June 22, 2011

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@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

His tweets include links from articles some of which are published in major pubs:

He is a high authority Twitterer (7 of 10) He tweets often an average of 13 tweets per day (vs. @NitrogenCycles average of 2.5 tweets per day) Hes followed by major pubs:

LUSA June 22, 2011

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@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

@EnvNewsBits 1,472 followers 7,900 tweets

What theyre doing right: They use top 10 types of lists:

They include specific calls to action in their tweets:

LUSA June 22, 2011

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@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

They offer an educational value-add content to their followers:

Theyre followed by major industry pubs and influencers:

LUSA June 22, 2011

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@NITROGENCYCLE TWITTER ANALYSIS

They tweet often an average of 13 tweets per day vs. @NitrogenCycles average of 2.5 tweets per day) They tweet every day of the week (including weekends)

Results Summary and Recommendations Make sure @NitrogenCycle is following all of its targeted Twitterers and invest a substantial amount of time to regularly engaging with and supporting targets who arent yet following you back by retweeting their tweets, interacting in the form of @mentions and @replies, sending them direct messages with useful tips, content, etc. Consider tweeting more frequently Maintain your focus on educating followers (example = top 10 list) Position content around areas all or at least a large percentage of your targeted followers will be able to relate to (the economy, climate, etc.) Use calls to action in tweets

LUSA June 22, 2011

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