Matt Cooper stays top of Twitter influence list as ‘Irish Times’ dominates

Matt Cooper remains the most influential Irish journalist on Twitter while The Irish Times has the highest number of representatives in an index compiled by public relations firm Murray.

The latest rankings see the Last Word presenter retain his number one spot after ousting Des Cahill last year. He is also named the leading broadcast journalist on the social media platform.

TV3 political correspondent Gavan Reilly is in second place overall on Murray's list, while Sunday World sports journalist Kevin Palmer comes in third. Newstalk presenter Pat Kenny and RTÉ's Philip Boucher-Hayes came in fourth and fifth.

The top 10 is rounded out by RTÉ Six One presenter Caitríona Perry, Irish Times writer, editor and podcaster Roisin Ingle, Keith Mahon, founder of The Taste, economist and Irish Times columnist David McWilliams and another Irish Times columnist, Una Mullally.

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There were 29 new entrants in this year’s Top 100 list with Darren McCaffrey, who was appointed Dublin correspondent at Sky last June, the highest new entry. He was placed in 12th spot overall and is also the highest ranked news journalist.

Other category winners included David McWilliams of The Irish Times (columnist), Gavan Reilly (politics), Conor Pope of The Irish Times (consumer/personal finance), Dearbhail McDonald of the Independent (business), Ken Sweeney of the Sun (entertainment), RTÉ's Fergal Bowers (health), Bernice Harrison of the Irish Times (property), Frank Fitzgibbon of The Sunday Times (editorial), Adrian Weckler of the Independent (technology) and Michael O'Toole of the Irish Daily Star (crime).

In its fourth year of publication, more than 720 journalists were ranked across six parameters including popularity, quality of engagement and level of activity.

Overall, the 100 most influential Irish journalists on the platform have close to three million followers between them, a rise of 16 per cent year-on-year.

The Irish Times has the highest number of influential journalists by outlet at 18, followed by RTÉ with 15, Independent News & Media with 14 (17 if you include the Irish Daily Star and Sunday World), the Sunday Business Post with 9, Newstalk with 5, the Sunday Times/The Times with 4 and the Irish Examiner and TV3 with 3.

The biggest gainers of the year included Carl Kinsella from Joe.ie, who jumped 198 positions to 77th place, sports journalist Miguel Delaney (up 136 places to 27th), Kildare FM presenter Shane Beatty (up 126 places to 80th) and Irish Times columnist Jennifer O'Connell (up 115 places to 16th).

David McWilliams retained the position of having the most followers on Twitter, adding over 35,000 since last year. Miguel Delaney remains the most prolific Tweeter with an average of 59 tweets per day, closely followed by Ewan McKenna of the Independent (52 tweets per day) and Newstalk presenter Dr Ciara Kelly (49 tweets per day).