Analysing my twitter account for themes in who I follow

1. A pattern analysis of the
Twitter accounts I follow
Angela Boodoo
July 2015

2. Background
As a participant on the Careershifters Pioneer Course, I have been
inspired to look with fresh eyes at my likes and interests and how they
may translate into a future fulfilling career.
Having created a Pinterest board for the Ideas Bank task in Week 1, I
found “analysing” the pictures to come up with 6 themes impossible!
My “analytical” tendency kicked in, so I decided to take a closer look at
the Twitter accounts I follow to see what I could learn there.

3. https://uk.pinterest.com/ademoins/my-ideas-bank

4. 5 reasons I analysed Twitter
1. I regularly curate it
2. It is a significant source of information/inspiration to me
3. What I post/follow is entirely unrelated to my current career
4. I post under a pseudonym, so I feel freer to share content and
follow accounts without being judged
5. Good sample size to analyse – I follow over 400 accounts

5. Method
1 List all Twitter
accounts I follow into
an Excel spreadsheet
2 Assign a “Type of
Business” to each
account
3
Assign a “Reason
Type” for me
following each
account
4
Apply filters to see
frequency of Business
& Reason Types.

6. Results – main themes
28
50
11
10
19
17
32
15
31
46
10
C A R E E R S & W O R K
C E L E B R I T Y
C O M M U N I T Y
D A T A & F A C T S
E V E N T S
H E A L T H & W E L L B E I N G
I N D I V I D U A L S
L E A R N I N G
N E W S & A R T I C L E S
P I C T U R E S
R E T A I L E R
TOP 11 TYPES OF ACCOUNTS I FOLLOW ON TWITTER
Key to account types
Retailer
Selling a product or service
Pictures
Tweeting pictures of things
News & Articles
All topics
Learning
Methods of learning, all topics
Individuals
Normal people, tweeting their thoughts
Health & Wellbeing
Fitness, psychology, lifestyle
Events
Stuff happening, all topics, everywhere
Data & Facts
Information/stats
Community
Connecting with others
Celebrity
Famous people / people in the media
Careers & Work
Ways to earn a living

7. Breakdown of 11 themes
Delving into the reasons why I follow these types of accounts

8. Results – Celebrity accounts
3
6
7
2
2
1
1
19
1
1
3
1
1
2
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
A D M I R A T I O N
L I F E E X P E R I E N C E
C U R I O U S
F O O D
G O O D B R O A D C A S T E R
H A N D S O M E
H O M E S & P R O P E R T Y
H U M O U R
I D E N T I F Y W I T H
I N S P I R A T I O N
I N T E R E S T I N G
M O N E Y
M U S I C
T H I N K I N G
CELEBRITYTop 3 reasons I follow
celebrity accounts on
Twitter
1. Humour
2. Curiosity
3. Life Experience (theirs)

9. Results – Picture accounts
Top 3 reasons I follow
picture accounts on
Twitter
1. Animals
2. Art, Buildings &
Nature
3. Historic places,
people, things
16
11
1
12
5
A N I M A L S
A R T , B U I L D I N G S & N A T U R E
F R O N T P A G E N E W S
H I S T O R I C P P L . P L A C E S , R E M A I N S
H U M O U R
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
PICTURES

10. Results – Individual accounts
Top 3 reasons I follow
individual accounts on
Twitter
1. Lifestyle (theirs)
2. Career & Career
Change
3. Humour / Same
wavelength
1
2
1
5
1
2
3
3
2
8
1
2
1
2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A D M I R E
A N I M A L S - C A T S
A R T
C A R E E R & C A R E E R C H A N G E
D O C U M E N T A R I E S
G O O D T W I T T E R N A M E
S A M E W A V E L E N G T H
H U M O U R
H O B B Y
L I F E S T Y L E
P H I L O S O P H Y
P S Y C H O L O G Y
T H I N K I N G
R E A L L I F E C O N T A C T
INDIVIDUALS

11. Results – News & Article accounts
Top 3 reasons I follow
news & article accounts
on Twitter
1. Living & Lifestyle
2. Business & Tech
3. Mainstream Media
1
7
3
9
2
1
2
5
1
1
A L E R T S
B U S I N E S S & T E C H N E W S
C A R E E R
L I V I N G & L I F E S T Y L E
L O C A L
M E D I A
M U S I C
M A I N S T R E A M M E D I A
P H I L O S O P H Y
P O L I T I C A L A L T E R N A T I V E
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
NEWS & ARTICLES

12. Results – Careers & Work accounts
Top 3 reasons I follow
careers & work accounts
on Twitter
1. Self employment
2. Local jobs (not career)
3. Workplace psychology
/ charity sector
8
3
4
1
1
5
4
1
1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
S E L F E M P L O Y M E N T
C A R E E R C H A N G E & C A R E E R S A D V I C E
C H A R I T Y
E M P L O Y E E E N G A G E M E N T
F O O D
J O B S
P E R S O N A L I T Y & P S Y C H O L O G Y
V I R T U A L W O R K
V O L U N T E E R I N G
CAREERS & WORK

13. Results – Data & Facts accounts
Main reason I follow data
& facts accounts on
Twitter
1. Market Research &
Polls
1
1
5
1
1
1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
F L I G H T P L O T S
I N F O R M A T I O N F A C T S
M A R K E T R E S E A R C H & P O L L S
P O P U L A R I T Y M E T R I C S
U N S U B S T A N T I A T E D S T A T E M E N T S
W O R D S & M E A N I N G S
DATA & FACTS

14. Results – Community accounts
Top 3 reasons I follow
community accounts on
Twitter
1. Connecting with
others
2. Lifestyle (mine)
3. Health & Fitness
5
2
3
1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
C O N N E C T I N G W I T H O T H E R S
H E A L T H & F I T N E S S
L I F E S T Y L E
M A U R I T I U S P O L I T I C S
COMMUNITY

15. Results – Event accounts
Top 3 reasons I follow
event accounts on Twitter
1. Music
2. Local / Humour
3. Thinking (theirs)
1
4
4
5
1
1
1
2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
F O O D
H U M O U R
L O C A L
M U S I C
N O N R E L I G I O U S
P S Y C H O L O G Y
S O C I A L M O V E M E N T
T H I N K I N G
EVENTS

16. Results – Health & Wellbeing accounts
Top 3 reasons I follow
health & wellbeing
accounts on Twitter
1. Life & death
2. Psychological
3. Fitness
1
7
3
1
1
5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
C O N N E C T I N G W I T H O T H E R S
L I F E & D E A T H
F I T N E S S
M E D I C A L
M E D I T A T I O N
P S Y C H O L O G I C A L
HEALTH & WELLBEING

17. Results – Retailer accounts
Top reasons I follow
retailer accounts on
Twitter
1. Natural products
2. Music
1
1
4
1
1
2
H U M O U R
N O S T A L I A
N A T U R A L P R O D U C T S
L I N G E R I E
M O N E Y S A V I N G
M U S I C
RETAILERS

18. Results – Learning accounts
Top reasons I follow
learning accounts on
Twitter
1. Careers & Upskilling
2. Experiments, Gifs &
Pics
4
8
1
1
1
E X P E R I M E N T S , G I F S & P I C S
C A R E E R & U P S K I L L I N G
E M O T I O N A L D E V E L O P M E N T
M U S I C
F R E E C O N T E N T
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
LEARNING

19. Summary of insight gained