PHILIPPINES, JANUARY 2011 – Nine out of the top 10 most followed TV news personalities in the Philippines on Twitter are from ABS-CBN, according to social media website New Media Philippines.
The rankings have changed slightly since the site reported the December 1 figures and there is a marked increase in followers in the past six weeks. Kim Atienza overtook Karen Davila for the top spot with 158,398 followers versus Davila’s 150,556, up from 124,955 and 130,168, respectively. Julius Babao (96,588), Ces Drilon (78,728), Gretchen Fullido (60,782), Ginger Conejero (58,088), Atom Araullo (54,193), TJ Manotoc (53,450), and Pinky Webb (43,798). The list did not include journalists from print and online media.
The only non-ABS-CBN news personality in the top 10 is TV5’s Paolo Bediones comes at fourth place with 83,626 followers.
The use of new media by ABS-CBN’s anchors and reporters has made them multimedia journalists who not only report news on-cam but also online via www.abs-cbnNEWS.com, and social networking and microblogging sites such as the widely used Twitter.