Rumour Wire is inspired by rising interest in footballers on Twitter, who often follow and unfollow new and old team-mates, potentially giving early indications of club’s they’re joining or leaving.
Rumour Wire cycles through the connections of over 1000 footballers every two hours, and picks out the most significant movements, say the publishers.
The editorial team at Mirror Football then receive a notification each time a new relationship forms – or is ended. Mirror Football reporters identify the key movements and can then use this information in their coverage of the transfer window.
In the short time Rumour Wire has been live it is already surfacing events of interest. It picked up that Southampton unfollowed Toby Alderweireld last week. The Belgian defender spent last season on loan with the Saints, who were thought to be keen on signing him permanently. However, it was announced yesterday morning that Alderweireld has penned a five-year deal with Tottenham.
Rumour Wire is the latest #Madeuthink initiative launched by the Mirror, positioning itself as the intelligent tabloid.
Zoe Harris, Group Marketing Director at Trinity Mirror, said: “Rumour Wire is the latest tool we’ve built to capture Twitter data in an innovative way. During the election our Tweetometer monitored which tweets by candidates received the highest engagement rates. Rumour Wire is a similar concept in that we’re monitoring data on Twitter and using it for editorial purposes.”
