Journalists dominate list of influential finance voices on Twitter

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/feb/29/twitter-bbc

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Seven of the top ten most influential financial voices on Twitter are journalists, with the BBC leading the field.

Four of its staff feature high up in the league table compiled for the UK's leading accountancy body, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

No government minister or official source is in the top ten, though Labour leader Ed Miliband @Ed_Miliband makes it in at number eight.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, ranks only at 11th. First place goes to an economics professor at New York University's Stern School, Nouriel Roubini @Nouriel.

The BBC's business editor Robert Peston @Peston is at number two followed by Newsnight's economics editor Paul Mason @paulmasonnews.

The other top ten BBC placings go to Tim Harford @TimHarford who presents Radio 4's More or Less - and who is also the "undercover economist" at the Financial Times - and the corporation's economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, @BBCStephanie .

Former BBC staffer, and now ITV News business editor, Laura Kuenssberg @ITVLauraK is there along with the economics editor of Channel 4 News, Faisal Islam @faisalislam .

The other two places in the top ten are taken by the official site for The Economist @TheEconomist and the accountancy firm Ernst & Young @EYnews .

The list certainly appears to underline the importance, and influence, of journalists in the field of finance. "Heaven help us," comments AOL writer Chris Wheal.

The calculations were made for ICAEW by a firm called Peerindex in order to discover those with "the most sway in the financial world, and are picked up and followed by key Twitter users".

<em>Source:</em> AOL/Chris Wheal