Encouragingly, many of SA's news editors are already active on Twitter, although there are still several who are noticeably absent. It is also worth noting that the past couple of weeks have seen huge editorship changes in the SA media, including those at Rapport, Beeld, Finweek and now Sowetan and Daily Dispatch.
Top of the list
At the top of the list of active editors (by follower numbers) is City Press's Ferial Haffajee (@ferialhaffajee), with more than 10 000 followers. City Press's recent allegations of a secret Julius Malema trust fund no doubt boosted her follower numbers, as did her very public spat with (now former) Sowetan columnist Eric Miyeni.
Close behind Haffajee is the Mail & Guardian's Nic Dawes (@NicDawes), with more than 9000 followers. Dawes is more active on Twitter than Haffajee, ahead by about 3000 tweets.
In third place is Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley (@hartleyr), with just over 4200 followers. Hartley started tweeting on 21 August 2007, though, way before both Dawes (1 June 2009) and Haffajee (21 November 2009).
At the other end of the scale, editors who have not yet joined the fray include the editors of Sowetan, Business Report, Cape Times, Die Burger and The Herald.
The active list
| Editor | Account | Publication | Number of tweets | Number of followers | Number following | Tweeting since |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferial Haffajee | @ferialhaffajee | City Press | 1600 | 10301 | 341 | 31 November 2009 |
| Nic Dawes | @NicDawes | Mail & Guardian | 4593 | 9156 | 456 | 1 June 2009 |
| Ray Hartley | @hartleyr | Sunday Times | 2309 | 4274 | 529 | 21 August 2007 |
| Alec Hogg | @alechogg | MoneyWeb | 1904 | 3565 | 3583 | 29 July 2008 |
| Branko Brkic | @brankobrkic | Daily Maverick | 4760 | 3197 | 756 | 08 January 2009 |
| Peter Bruce | @Bruceps | Business Day | 3522 | 3075 | 494 | 18 March 2009 |
| Angela Quintal | @angelaquintal | The Mercury | 1090 | 1362 | 632 | 22 June 2009 |
| Brendan Boyle | @TimesLIVEpols | Daily Dispatch* | 521 | 1115 | 85 | 23 June 2009 |
| Marc Ashton (acting) | @zamarcashton | Finweek | 8159 | 1104 | 465 | 3 May 2009 |
| Gasant Abarder | @GasantAbarder | Cape Argus | 3588 | 930 | 389 | 4 November 2010 |
| Phylicia Oppelt | @PhyliciaO | The Times | 427 | 570 | 233 | 28 May 2011 |
| Barney Mthombothi | @mthombothi | Financial Mail | 414 | 432 | 220 | 9 April 2009 |
| Ryland Fisher (acting) | @rylandfisher | The New Age | 138 | 366 | 750 | 04 August 2009 |
| Liza Albrecht | @LizaAlbrecht | Rapport** | 141 | 282 | 164 | 9 February 2009 |
| Peet Kruger | @pkruger1 | Beeld | 570 | 233 | 344 | 3 April 2009 |
| Martin Williams | @Marttwit | Citizen | 30 | 135 | 96 | 22 February 2009 |
| Moegsien Williams | @MoegsienW | The Star | 17 | 124 | 10 | 10 June 2011 |
| Ainsley Moos | @Moos115 | Volksblad | 139 | 109 | 97 | 7 August 2010 |
| Bokkie Gerber | @bokkie_gerber | Rapport** | 1 | 11 | 4 | 27 July 2011 |
Missing in action
| Editor | Publication |
|---|---|
| Len Maseko (deputy) | Sowetan* |
| Ellis Mnyandu | Business Report |
| Chris Whitfield | Cape Argus |
| Alide Dasnois | Cape Times |
| Bun Booyens | Die Burger |
| Mpumelelo Mkhabele | Daily Dispatch/Sowetan |
| Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya | The Witness |
| Heather Robertson | The Herald |
| Makhudu Sefara | Sunday Independent |
| Deon Delport | Independent on Saturday |
*This list includes Brendan Boyle (@TimesLIVEpols as the editor of the Daily Dispatch, even though he only took up that post this week as a result of the Haffajee/Miyeni spat. He is, however, an active Twitter user and therefore could be expected to take his followers with him to the Dispatch.
**Liza Albrecht (@LizaAlbrecht) is included, as she was only replaced by Bokkie Gerber as editor of Rapport at the start of August 2011. Gerber appears to now have a Twitter account (@bokkie_gerber) but had tweeted just once at the time of writing.
Twitter follower counts are a moving target. Within minutes of publishing this, these will be out of date. These numbers were correct at the end of the working day of 4 August 2011.
In most cases, I am confident that the accounts listed belong to the editor in question. I am less sure about the accounts I have not found. They may exist but not in any easily discoverable form. If I have missed any, please email me and I'll add them to the list.• Amended from original blog post, with permission, published on 4 August 2011.
