Additional reporting by Gabi October

The live tweeting of the Oscar Pistorius legal proceedings has announced a fundamental shift in the way that news is reported and consumed, and in the way in which we the audience relate to reporters. Magistrate Nair’s ban of video recording or photography while court is in session has left the job of providing colour and context of the trial to journalists on the ground. And they’re doing it via Twitter.

The result is that a select group of journalists is experiencing a massive spike in their Twitter following, and social media influence.

We have selected a few local or locally-embedded journalists to illustrate the growth in social media influence journalists have experienced in the last few days as Pistorius’ bail hearing has proceeded. We used social media analysis tools, SEOmoz and Twitalyzer for our analysis.

Barry Bateman – Eyewitness News – 112 069 followers

#OscarPistorius this delay must be frustrating for Oscar – justice delayed is justice denied. BB

— Barry Bateman (@barrybateman) February 21, 2013

Bateman’s Twitter following and associated social media influence has sky-rocketed in the days following the arrest of Oscar Pistorius. At the time of writing, he had 112 069 followers, up from 68 749 on Sunday 16 February. He experienced a massive spike in followers between Tuesday 19 February, and Wednesday 20 February. The grey columns in the graph below illustrate the growth of Bateman’s followers, while the yellow line indicates the number of updates from Bateman’s feed on a given day.

From the map below, we can determine that most of Bateman’s Twitter interaction is coming from South Africa, with notable interaction from the UK.

Bateman is without a doubt one of the most impressive cases of mass Twitter follower spikes among any of the journalists live tweeting Pistorius’ legal proceedings. But each journalist has enjoyed their own share of the glory. The graphs below illustrate their most influential days on Twitter this week.

Alex Eliseev – Eyewitness News – 14 081 followers

#OscarPistorius Wow: court proceedings interupted due to #EWN‘s expose about Botha’s pending criminal case. Botha being recalled?

— Alex Eliseev (@alexeliseev) February 21, 2013

Eliseev was sitting on 9 468 followers last week Friday. Wednesday was his most influential day on social media this week, so far.

From the map below, we can determine that most of Eliseev’s Twitter interaction is coming from South Africa, with notable interaction from the UK, and the USA.

Mandy Wiener – Eyewitness News – 52 064 followers

#OscarPistorius Roux says poor quality of Botha’s evidence exposed disastrous shortcomings in the state’s case.

— Mandy Wiener (@MandyWiener) February 21, 2013

 

Wiener was sitting on 39 984 followers last week Friday. Wednesday was her most influential day on social media this week, so far.

From the map below, we can determine that most of Wiener’s Twitter interaction is coming from South Africa.

Lydia Polgreen – New York Times – 24 132 followers

Botha is not in court, so magistrate adjourns to find him. This is descending into farce! #Pistorius — Lydia Polgreen (@lpolgreen) February 21, 2013

Polgreen was sitting on 21 217 followers last week Friday. Wednesday was her most influential day on social media this week, so far.

From the map below, we can determine that most of Polgreen’s Twitter interaction is coming from India and Pakistan, with notable interaction from the USA, UK, and South Africa.

Karyn Maughan – eNCA – 31 091 followes

Recognized “mental state” applicant woman from a chance meeting in Parkhurst police station. She was there preparing appeal documents

— Karyn Maughan (@karynmaughan) February 21, 2013

Maughan was sitting on 7 275 followers last week Friday. Wednesday was her most influential day on social media this week, so far.

From the map below, we can determine that most of Maughan’s Twitter interaction is coming from South Africa, with notable interaction from the UK.

David Smith – The Guardian – 37 825 followers

Brother Carl Pistorius looking energised. Uncle Arnold Pistorius on mobile phone. Other family members huddled in discussion.

— David Smith (@SmithInAfrica) February 21, 2013

Smith was sitting on 22 715 followers last week Friday. Wednesday was his most influential day on social media this week, so far.

From the map below, we can determine that most of Smith’s Twitter interaction is coming from South Africa, with notable interaction from the UK, Kenya, Nigeria, Libya, and USA.

Alex Crawford – Sky News – 32 874 followers

#oscarpistoriusmotion by female lawyer. She wants OP examined for 60 days by psychiatrists to determine sanity at time of Reeva death

— Alex Crawford (@AlexCrawfordSky) February 21, 2013

Crawford was sitting on 24 189 followers last week Friday. Tuesday was her most influential day on social media this week, so far.

From the map below, we can determine that most of Crawford’s Twitter interaction is coming from the UK, with notable interaction from South Africa, Spain and the USA.