I’m testing the waters on something here… I currently track the top newspapers on Facebook, where a recent comment by Brian Smith of Iowa State caught my attention.
Brian mentioned that the Iowa State Daily is trying to increase its number of followers on Facebook. This made me wonder which college newspapers were doing the best job growing a following on Facebook. I mean, Facebook is firmly entrenched into the college lifestyle, so surely these college newspapers have tens of thousands of followers on Facebook.
Apparently not. But they are getting there.
To keep things simple at first, I looked at the 64 schools in top BCS conferences (I’m a sports fan) – although I could not find Facebook pages for 11 10 of the newspapers. If there is some interest in what I’m doing, I’ll expand the list next month.
NOTE: If there is a page you think I should know about, let me know in the comment area below.
The Top 25
| Rank | School | Newspaper | Fans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina | Daily Tar Heel | 5,928 |
| 2 | Penn State | Daily Collegian | 4,987 |
| 3 | Indiana | Indiana Daily Student | 4,872 |
| 4 | Ohio State | The Lantern | 3,723 |
| 5 | Alabama | Crimson White | 3,681 |
| 6 | LSU | Daily Reveille | 3,155 |
| 7 | California | Daily Californian | 3,102 |
| 8 | Iowa State | Iowa State Daily | 2,623 |
| 9 | Michigan | Michigan Daily | 2,472 |
| 10 | South Carolina | Daily Gamecock | 2,360 |
| 11 | Arizona | Daily Wildcat | 2,123 |
| Kentucky | Kentucky Kernel | 2,068 | |
| 13 | Washington | The Daily | 2,055 |
| 14 | Arizona State | State Press | 1,907 |
| 15 | Illinois | Daily Illini | 1,813 |
| 16 | South Florida | The Oracle | 1,767 |
| 17 | Georgia | Red and Black | 1,753 |
| 18 | Minnesota | Minnesota Daily | 1,745 |
| 19 | Texas | Daily Texan | 1,733 |
| 20 | Cincinnati | The News Record | 1,701 |
| 21 | Texas A&M | The Batalion | 1,627 |
| 22 | Colorado | Colorado Daily | 1,557 |
| 23 | Michigan State | State News | 1,556 |
| 24 | Florida | Florida Alligator | 1,507 |
| 25 | USC | Daily Trojan | 1,475 |
All the schools
Here’s a look at all of the schools I tracked this month. If you see a zero next to your school, that means I could not find your page. Share the link in the comments below. If your school is not on this list, and you want me to start tracking your newspaper page, just post a link in the comments.
| ACC | Newspaper | FB Fans 12/10 |
|---|---|---|
| Boston College | The Heights | 1,198 |
| Clemson | The Tiger | 0 |
| Duke | The Chronicle | 0 |
| Florida State | FSView | 1,264 |
| Georgia Tech | Technique | 0 |
| Maryland | The Diamondback | 597 |
| Miami (FL) | The Miami Hurricane | 0 |
| North Carolina | Daily Tar Heel | 5,928 |
| North Carolina State | Technician | 1,206 |
| Virginia | Cavalier Daily | 0 |
| Virginia Tech | Collegiate Times | 1,209 |
| Wake Forest | Old Gold & Black | 0 |
| Big 12 | Newspaper | FB Fans 12/10 |
| Baylor | The Lariat | 339 |
| Colorado | Colorado Daily | 1,557 |
| Colorado | CU Independent | 1,243 |
| Iowa State | Iowa State Daily | 2,623 |
| Kansas | Kansan | 1,379 |
| Kansas State | Collegian | 0 |
| Missouri | Maneater | 1,223 |
| Nebraska | Daily Nebraskan | 607 |
| Oklahoma | Oklahoma Daily | 1,005 |
| Oklahoma State | Daily O’Collegian | 0 |
| Texas | Daily Texan | 1,733 |
| Texas A&M | The Batalion | 1,627 |
| Texas Tech | Daily Toreador | 433 |
| Big East | Newspaper | FB Fans 12/10 |
| Cincinnati | The News Record | 1,701 |
| Connecticut | The Daily Campus | 317 |
| Louisville | Cardinal | 910 |
| Pittsburgh | Pitt News | 273 |
| Rutgers | Daily Targum | 1,023 |
| South Florida | The Oracle | 1,767 |
| Syracuse | Daily Orange | 942 |
| West Virginia | Daily Athenaeum | 412 |
| Big Ten | Newspaper | FB Fans 12/10 |
| Illinois | Daily Illini | 1,813 |
| Indiana | Indiana Daily Student | 4,872 |
| Iowa | Daily Iowan | 1,109 |
| Michigan | Michigan Daily | 2,472 |
| Michigan State | State News | 1,556 |
| Minnesota | Minnesota Daily | 1,745 |
| Northwestern | Daily Northwestern | 1,182 |
| Ohio State | The Lantern | 3,723 |
| Penn State | Daily Collegian | 4,987 |
| Purdue | Exponent | 659 |
| Wisconsin | Badger Herald | 1,236 |
| Pac-10 | Newspaper | FB Fans 12/10 |
| Arizona | Daily Wildcat | 2,123 |
| Arizona State | State Press | 1,907 |
| California | Daily Californian | 3,102 |
| Oregon | Daily Emerald | 139 |
| Oregon State | Daily Barometer | 279 |
| Stanford | Stanford Daily | 840 |
| UCLA | Daily Bruin | 878 |
| USC | Daily Trojan | 1,475 |
| Washington | The Daily | 2,055 |
| Washington State | Daily Evergreen | 823 |
| SEC | Newspaper | FB Fans 12/10 |
| Alabama | Crimson White | 3,681 |
| Arkansas | Arkansas Traveler | 353 |
| Auburn | Auburn Plainsman | 156 |
| Florida | Florida Alligator | 1,507 |
| Georgia | Red and Black | 1,753 |
| Kentucky | Kentucky Kernel | 2,068 |
| LSU | Daily Reveille | 3,155 |
| Mississippi | Daily Mississippian | 0 |
| Mississippi State | The Reflector | 1,340 |
| South Carolina | Daily Gamecock | 2,360 |
| Tennessee | Daily Beacon | 432 |
| Vanderbilt | Vanderbilt Hustler | 0 |
Thanks for tracking this, Chris! It’s exciting to see how we compare to other schools.
Interesting comparisons you have here. A couple comments:
1. For the University of Wisconsin, you should add the Daily Cardinal, an independent paper also published daily on the Madison campus: http://www.dailycardinal.com/contact
(I note they have 258 Facebook fans.)
2. Some of the papers, such as Washington and Arizona State, utilize Facebook a lot to push story links to their websites, while other papers rely on direct traffic or tools like Twitter for this.
3. Alumni and successful sports teams have a lot to do with Facebook fans — at least that is what I have picked up from talking to college editors and advisers.
4. An interesting comparison might be the number of fans compared to the number of current students. I bet some smaller schools would blow away the big schools in your BCS list!
Thanks for the feedback Logan. Comparing enrollment to Facebook fans is a great idea. I will add that when I do new rankings next month.
Chris,
I just saw your list via Dan Reimold’s blog, and I have to agree with Logan. Total # of fans isn’t really helpful if you aren’t comparing them somehow to the total potential readership of a student publication.
It’s not at all surprising that some of the largest schools in the country have the largest number of facebook fans for their student media – whether they use those pages effectively or not.
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How about the Central Florida Future at UCF – University of Central Florida?