ManU on Wednesday "became the last club in the top football flight to join Twitter," and within two hours "had more followers than the three most recently promoted teams combined," according to Aglionby & Blitz of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The N.Y.-listed club also launched on China microblogging site Sina Weibo, which has 500 million users. Foreign-language Twitter feeds will follow, the club said. Within an hour, the EPL champions account, @ManUtd, had 108,000 followers. ManU still has "some catching up to do." Among the club’s main domestic rivals, Arsenal has more than 2.5 million followers, Chelsea 2.38 million, Liverpool 1.78 million, Man City 992,000 and Tottenham Hotspur 521,000. Within two hours, the club had 137,000 followers, "overtaking the combined followings" of Hull City, Crystal Palace and Cardiff City, promoted from the championship last season (FT, 7/10).
LONG TIME COMING: In London, John Reynolds reported ManU had previously "resisted launching an official Twitter account despite having a considerable presence on Facebook," where it has 34 million "likes." One reason for launching on Twitter now is that the club "is thought to be close to appointing a social media campaign manager." Twitter will offer ManU the chance "to work on commercial opportunities with its partners, such as promoted tweets" (GUARDIAN, 7/10).
