With more hits coming from Facebook [and Twitter], media groups are increasingly focusing on promoting their content on these sites.
'Likes', 'Shares' and 'Retweets' (RTs) are now used to gauge popularity of stories, reports and articles.
Most media organisations want 'content' that does well on social media.
Facebook is now considered more a platform that sends hits, rather than Twitter.
Twitter works in a different way but first, we shall look at the Facebook presence of Indian media.
Indian Media on Facebook, Twitter
All those busy in making strategy for social media, talk about Clicks and Eyeballs. The clicks [hits] are obtained through smart, catchy and even sensational [misleading] headlines.
Especially, Hindi media is doing it more to grab eyeballs. The major media groups that have strong presence on the ground, are doing well on the social media too.
But there are exceptions too. Some papers with huge circulation, don't have strong social media presence.
When you 'like' a page, you automatically become a follower and hence a consumer of its content. The more 'likes' and 'followers', a media company has on Facebook, the more is the reach of its content.
And, it not only brings advertisement revenue but also increases the brand value of the company. The media groups also use different ways, even spending money to drive campaigns for more 'followers'.
ENGLISH MEDIA
Times of India is the clear leader on Facebook. It has more than 79.38 lakh or 7.9 million likes [followers]. However, the surprise is that 'The Hindu', which is considered more traditional, is second in the list with 44.17 lakh or 4.4 million Facebook likes.
Hindustan Times has 41.33 lakh likes which puts it at the third place. Indian Express is also catching up fast now, though it was far behind till recently. Express has nearly 35 lakh 'likes'. Deccan Chronicle follows.
Among other English media, the weekly India Today has a strong following on Facebook. It posts content of dailyO as well. India Today has nearly 73 lakh or 7.3 lakh followers, which puts it among the most influential news brands on Facebook, in India.
Times of India 79.38 lakh [nearing 8 million]
The Hindu 43 lakh or 4.3 million
HT 39.68 lakh
Indian Express 34.69 lakh
Deccan Chronicle 13.98 lakh
TV CHANNELS' INFLUENCE: Aaj Tak, ABP leaders on Facebook
When it comes to TV channels, Aaj Tak and ABP News are the leaders. Aaj Tak is at the TOP. In fact, the two channel leads in all the segments as they are far ahead of English, Hindi and regional papers too, on Facebook.
Both Aaj Tak and ABP have crossed 10 million or 1 crore figure on Facebook. It is followed by NDTV, Zee News, Times Now, IBNlive.com, India TV and IBN 7. There are many other channels too, with over a million followers on this social networking website.
Aaj Tak 1.1 crore plus [10.1 million]
ABP News 1 crore plus [100 lakh], more than 10 millions
NDTV 58 lakh or 5.8 million
Zee News 51.86 lakh
Times Now 40.17 lakh
IBNlive.com 37.21 lakh
India TV 42.36 lakh
IBN 7 27.37 lakh
JAGRAN leads Hindi newspapers
Dainik Jagran 84.21 lakh or 8.4 million
Bhaskar 78.48 lakh
Amar Ujala 39.86 lakh
Navbharat Times Online 36.71 lakh
Punjab Kesari 29.07 lakh
SOME OTHER NOTABLE NEWS SOURCES WITH HIGH REACH ON FACEBOOK
Quint 31.40 lakh or 3.1 million
24 Ghanta 29.32 lakh [Bangla]
ABP Ananda 27.12 lakh
Manorama [Malayalam] 21.27 lakh
Mathrubhumi 18.66 lakh [Malayalam]
The Siasat Daily 12.64 lakh [Urdu]
For those interested in New Media, see the link below:
Top ten 'New Media' websites in India. LINK
*The figures above will keep changing, increase, in most cases. The data is for January 24, 2016.