MPs post almost a million tweets in 2013

Top tweeter Tim Farron hoping to heard. Credit: PA Wire

MPs sent out almost a million messages on social media site Twitter in 2013, with one MP tweeting more than 17,000 times, new research has revealed.

Top tweeter was Liberal Democrat president and MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron, whose 17,4121 messages amount to one every 20 minutes throughout the year, assuming he gets six hours of sleep per night.

Social media monitoring service Yatterbox found that a total of 921,731 tweets have been sent out by politicians in the UK over the last year.

  • Labour was the most active with 398,168 tweets between them

  • The Conservatives came a distant second on 245,707

  • The Liberal Democrats only managed 94,675 between them (without Farron's exceptional contribution, this figure would be a mere 77,254)

For MPs - unsurprisingly unique among Twitter users - the biggest tweeting occasions of 2013 were the Budget and Autumn Statement.

Total tweets by MPs up 28% on the 2012, and 238% higher than in 2011.

The most active Labour tweeter, and the only woman to make the political top ten, was Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy with 12,739 tweets.

Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant was the most vocal Conservative politician on Twitter, sending 12,160 messages.

Parliament's top 10 tweeters, according to Yatterbox, were:

  • Tim Farron, (Lib Dem, Westmorland and Lonsdale) - 17,421

  • Julian Huppert (Lib Dem, Cambridge) - 13,781

  • Stella Creasy (Labour, Walthamstow) - 12,739

  • Michael Fabricant (Conservative, Lichfield) - 12,160

  • Jamie Reed (Labour, Copeland) - 11,144

  • Tom Harris (Labour, Glasgow South) - 10,676

  • Tom Watson (Labour, West Bromwich East) - 10,577

  • Greg Mulholland (Lib Dem, Leeds North West) - 10,370

  • Angus MacNeil (SNP, Na h-Eileanan an Iar) - 10,210

  • George Galloway (Respect, Bradford West) - 8,986