We’ve looked at 2021’s most influential Scottish Twitter users – and the results are more surprising than you’d expect.

Scottish Twitter is different.

There’s a unique sense of humour, totally original content and conversations that you wouldn’t find anywhere else in the world. As a nation, we love tweeting.

At SPEY, we decided to look at 2021’s most influential Scottish Twitter users. Who are the individuals who have generated the greatest interest and engagement this year?

Method

We partnered with the Influencer tracker Upfluence to look at Scottish Twitter users who have more than 10,000 followers and have tweeted more than 10 times in the last twelve months, tracking whose tweets have generated the most likes, comments and retweets.

Data was gathered between January and December of 2021, and was collated on December 12. We excluded politicians from our list.

The List

Bathgate-comedian Fern Brady came out top of the list for 2021, on the strength of a number of her tweets going viral around the globe this year.

Sport and comedy made up the majority of the top ten, with footballers John McGinn and Jen Beattie completing the top three following a successful year for the Scottish National Teams.

Thom Watt, Head of Digital at SPEY, commented:

“Scottish Twitter is a very specific world, and it’s been fascinating to look at who has shaped it this year.

“The number of followers is only part of what makes social media accounts effective. We wanted to understand how active and interested those followers were in the tweets of different Scottish personalities.

“Fern Brady is brilliant at Twitter. Her jokes and anecdotes work perfectly for the format, and she’s found a huge active audience online.

“We looked at the engagement on the tweets of high profile Scots and it’s clear to see that we’re a country of sport lovers with strong opinions, but we obviously don’t take ourselves too seriously either.

“Our list reflects the Scottish people who have entertained, interested and provoked us throughout the year.”

SPEY worked with leading influencer marketing platform Upfluence to gather these results.

Vivien Garnès, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Upfluence, said:

“We’re delighted that Upfluence is powering SPEY’s in-depth performance reporting on top Twitter influencers in Scotland and enabling them to deliver data-driven influencer strategies to their clients.

“SPEY’s analysis of Upfluence data reveals the true scope of what it means to be an influencer in 2021, featuring a selection of influential individuals from diverse industry niches including sport and comedy in their top 20 ranking of influential Scottish people on Twitter.”

The top ten features comedian Eleanor Morton, Scottish men’s international football captain Andy Robertson, rugby captain Stuart Hogg and Line of Duty star Martin Compston.

Others in the top 20 include BBC Alba’s Calum Maclean, TV presenter Storm Huntley, blogger and makeup entrepreneur Jamie Genevieve and author Christopher Brookmyre.

The Top 20 in full:

1.
Fern Brady (@FernBrady) – Comedian. Fern has gained popularity from her work on Comedy Central, on Richard Osman’s House of Games and for her witty Twitter anecdotes.

2.
John McGinn (@JMcGinn7) – Scotland and Aston Villa footballer. McGinn has played a pivotal part in Scotland’s resurgence as an international force in recent years, as well as being a relatable figure on Twitter.

3.
Jen Beattie (@JBeattie91) – Footballer for Scotland and Arsenal. Jen Beattie has been one of Scotland’s leading footballers for over a decade, playing 135 times and scoring 23 goals.

4.
Eleanor Morton (@EleanorMorton) – Comedian and actor. Eleanor generated great buzz this year with her impressions, one-woman sketches and short comedy videos. Her short sketch videos were viewed over five million times on Twitter alone.

5.
Stuart Hogg (@StuartWHogg_) – Scotland rugby captain and Exeter Chiefs player. Captained Scotland to victories in France and England in the 2021 Six Nations.

6.
Andy Robertson (@AndrewRobertso5) – Captain of the Scotland men’s football team and Liverpool left-back. Robertson captained his country at this summer’s European Championships, the first for Scotland since 1996.

7.
Neil Oliver (@TheCoastGuy) – TV presenter and Historian. Oliver has been one of the most prominent voices since the launch of the GB News Channel in June 2021.

8.
Martin Compston (@Martin_Compston) – Actor. The star of Sweet Sixteen, The Wee Man and The Disappearance of Alice Creed, Compston played a pivotal part in the buzz around this year’s Line of Duty with his running commentary and quick-witted responses to fan theories.

9.
Paul Black (@PaulBlack) – Writer and comedian. Paul’s unique take on Scottish life has helped him amass millions of video views on Twitter this year. His run of Scottish live shows sold out in less than 30 minutes.

10.
Amy Macdonald (@Amy_Macdonald) – Singer-songwriter. Her run of sold-out shows across the UK this summer was covered in detail on Twitter, but it was her honest and often humorous tweets which went viral.

11.
Calum Maclean (@Caldamac). -Outdoor adventurer and broadcaster. We’ve loved following Calum’s adventures across Scotland, and his videos highlighting some of the nations best wild swimming spots. One of – if not the – most prominent Gaelic language tweeters out there.

12.
Storm Huntley (@stormhuntley) – TV presenter. A regular on our TV screens on Jeremy Vine, Storm married The LaFontaines frontman Kerr Okan in September of this year.

13.
Rachel Corsie (@RachelCorsie18) – Footballer. Captain of the Scotland Women’s National Team and Kansas City player, Corsie has been playing at the highest level in the US for six years now.

14.
Jasper James (@JasperJames_) – DJ and producer. One of Scotland’s best DJs, the Glasgow-born James has cultivated a huge following across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

15.
Jamie Genevieve (@JamieGenevieve) – Blogger and entrepreneur. The Glasgow-based blogger made her name in makeup tutorials, but 2021 has been the year she went stellar. The launch of her own Vieve brand and shop in Princes Square was a huge success.

16.
Dougie Vipond (@DougieVipond) – TV Presenter and musician. Although perhaps best known now as a presenter for Premier Sports and for the BBC’s Landward, Vipond returned to his day job this year as drummer in Deacon Blue.

17.
Susan Calman (@SusanCalman) – Comedian. A regular on our TV screens, Calman was seen this year in Secret Scotland, Susan’s Grand Days Out and as the face of the Bank of Scotland’s TV advertising campaign.

18.
Darren McGarvey (@LokiScottishRap) – Musician, author and social commentator. Having made his name as a musician and award-winning writer, Darren McGarvey (aka Loki) is perhaps best known for his social commentary and his work highlighting Scotland’s inequality.

19.
Christopher Brookmyre (@CBrookmyre) – Author. One of Scotland’s best-loved crime and thriller writers for over two decades, Brookmyre released his 25th novel this year with The Cut. He’s an eloquent and cutting political critic on Twitter.

20.
Alex Kapranos (@AlKapranos) – Musician. Franz Ferdinand frontman, who celebrated a comeback single and greatest hits album – Hits to the Head – in 2021.