CBS21 anchor Robb Hanrahan does it.
Megan Healey of abc27 does it. So does Ashley Palutis of Fox 43.
Heck, birds and bees probably do it.
“It” is following NBC “Nightly News” anchor and managing editor Brian Williams on Twitter.
Following @bwilliams
The aforementioned are among the 192,000 followers of @bwilliams. Another one is his NBC colleague Natalie Morales of “Today,” whose own twitterverse comprises “only” 176,000 followers.
Of course, it’s not unusual for a celebrity to be a big deal on social media. And make no mistake, Williams is a celebrity in addition to being a well-respected newsman (drawing at least one favorable comparison to Walter Cronkite).
Williams has hosted “Saturday Night Live,” appeared on “30 Rock,” and regularly gets to “slow jam” the news on the “Tonight Show.”
Williams is a smart, affable guy with a lot to say.
Except on Twitter.
He has never tweeted.
Williams’ activity on Twitter amounts to following four profiles: those of his own “Nightly News;” son Doug Williams, a sports reporter for New York’s YES Network; The New York Times; and @TheBravest, which live tweets the New York Fire Department scanner. While in high school in New Jersey, Williams was a volunteer firefighter.
ABC surging among ages 25-54
Williams’ counterpart at “CBS Evening News,” Scott Pelley, had just 31 tweets to his credit as of April 25, and a relatively paltry 21,300 followers. Diane Sawyer, anchor of “ABC World News Tonight” puts both men to shame: 1,111 tweets to 337,000 followers.
In fairness to Williams, he’s among the vast majority of Twitter account holders. Fewer than 25 percent of Twitter’s 974 million active accounts were active in the last quarter of 2013, meaning that they logged in at least once per month.
“Nightly News” has been No. 1 in the ratings overall for approximately 300 weeks, but ABC’s “World News” has been surging among the most-sought-after demographic, viewers ages 25-54.
Certainly, Williams can reach that group via the “Tonight Show.”
And he can start tweeting.
