richardfrosty – Richard Frost – Manchester

On Wednesday, 10 July 2013, the new Manchester United FC Twitter account @ManUtd announced its arrival with the tweet “New era, same spirit. The season starts here. Let’s do this. #mufc”.

In so doing, it became the last Premier League football club to create a Twitter account for fans.

I can’t believe it’s taken this long. I’m not a United fan but, as someone who lives in Manchester, I find it incredible that the biggest brand in Manchester has been so slow off the mark.

Fergie Time – and then some

Way back in the mists of time (2010), I did some proofreading for a report looking at the best Twitter accounts in Manchester. Even then, it amazed me that Manchester United FC weren’t present (for the record, @MCFC was the best sports account followed by @FCUnitedMcr). But the general consensus was that it was surely only a matter of weeks before United responded.

Three years later and it seems they’ve finally woken up to the potential of social media marketing. The @ManUtd Twitter account looks decent with exclusive news and behind-the-scenes photos – pretty much like every other sports account really – and it’s picking up followers at record speed. But it’s still got an awful lot of catching up to do.

Premier League Twitter Table

Speaking of which, I’ve put together this list of the official Twitter hashtags, accounts and follower counts for every Premier League football club in the 2013-14 season. In terms of followers, @ManUtd is already sixth after a phenomenal first week but it’s still miles behind @Arsenal, @ChelseaFC, @LFC and @MCFC, which are all in the Million+ Club.

Here’s my Premier League Twitter Table 2013-14 in full (as of Sunday, 14 July 2013):