By Ajibola Amzat
Barely two hours in the New Year, has Vanguard newspaper tweeted: “President Buhari’s new year message to Nigerians.” And just about the same time, The Punch followed suit: “Buhari Receives Boko Haram flag from Army.”
The tweets by the two Nigerian newspapers illustrate the struggle for stronger presence on social media by news media organizations in Nigeria. And the leaders of the pack in 2016 are The Punch, Vanguard and New York-based Sahara Reporters, according to data this reporter collected barely 2 am Nigerian time.
While The Punch tops Twitter followership with 1.6 million in 2016, Vanguard leads in Facebook likes with 2.5 million. But Vanguard trails behind The Punch with 1.4 million Twitter followership, as The Punch records 1.2 million Facebook likes.
However, no newspaper has tweeted more than Nigerian Tribune since June 2009 when the paper joined Twitter, not even the oldest newspaper on Twitter, The Punch which joined in March 2009, barely two months before The Guardian.
In the online newspaper category, the oldest Nigerian newspaper on Twitter, Sahara Reporters leads with 1.3 million Twitter followership and 2.6 Facebook likes. See the table below:
