Covid-19 restrictions have led most organizations to increase their social media presence during the past two years. Think tanks and other organizations that promote a free economy were no exception. With the worst of the pandemic behind us, some of the most popular platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, have seen slower user traffic growth rates. Some leading think tanks are thus witnessing a reduced following. For comparison, I also show the social media following of prominent think tanks that are not particularly pro-free-market, such as CSIS, Brookings, and Chatham House. These established groups have extensive networks on LinkedIn, much larger than their more pro-free-market competitors.
Most leading think tanks experienced a reduction in unique visitors to their websites. Several successfully achieved sizable growth in at least one social media platform. BrasilParalelo (grew by 78%), Judicial Watch (20%), and FreedomWorks (20%) were exceptions and were able to increase traffic to their websites. Among the competition, CSIS and Chatham House achieved a healthy increase. I use the data from SimilarWeb, which only includes think tanks above a certain threshold of traffic.
The tables show how leading pro-free-market organizations performed on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, SimilarWeb, LinkedIn, and Instagram during the last twelve months, as measured during the first week of April 2022.
Selected free-market think tanks social media impact: presence in Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, … [+]
Although it saw a slight decline in Facebook likes, The Heritage Foundation continues to lead among U.S. free-market groups, capturing first place on all platforms except YouTube. Like last year it came second in the number of subscribers. The Foundation for Economic Education, one of the oldest think tanks (founded in 1946) but now catering to a younger audience, ended up first again in YouTube subscribers and grew in Facebook likes.
PragerU leads on all platforms except website traffic among groups focusing on educational videos. BrasilParalelo, a pro-free-society Netflix
Media and video groups social media impact: presence in Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and … [+]
Several Latin American think tanks achieved an impressive social media presence. Among them are Fundación para el Progreso (FPP, Chile), and Fundación Libertad y Progreso (Argentina), which have continued to consolidate their leadership on YouTube.
Below are the free-market think tanks scoring first or second in the United States and from around the world (data compiled during the first week of April 2022):
· Most Facebook likes (U.S.): #1 Heritage (1.908 million) #2 Acton Institute (754K); (Non-U.S.): #1 Instituto Millenium, Brazil (404K), #2 Fundación para el Progreso, Chile (277K)
· Most Twitter followers (U.S.): #1 Heritage Foundation (629K) #2 Cato Institute (364K); (Non- U.S): #1 CEDICE, Venezuela (117K) #2 México Evalúa/CIDAC, Mexico (116K)
· Most monthly website visitors, as reported by SimilarWeb (U.S.): #1 Heritage (1.9 million) #2 FEE (901K); (Non-U.S.): #1 México Evalúa/CIDAC (287K) #2 Mises Institute, Brazil (232K).
· Most subscribers to YouTube (U.S.): #1 FEE (272K) #2 Heritage (226K); (Non-U.S.): #1 Fundación para el Progreso, Chile (203K) #2 Fundación Libertad y Progreso, Argentina (126K)
· Most views of YouTube video (longer than 2 min) uploaded in past twelve months (U.S.): #1 Heritage (384K) #2 FEE (323K); (Non-U.S.): #1 Fundación Para el Progreso, Chile (431K) #2 Fundación Libertad y Progreso, Argentina (168K)
· Most LinkedIn Followers (U.S.): #1 Heritage (44K) # 2 Cato (38K); (Non-U.S.); #1 Instituto Millenium, Brazil (27K) #2 Fraser Institute, Canada (13K)
· Instagram followers (U.S.): #1 Heritage (140K) #2 FEE (41K); (Non-U.S.): #1 Instituto Mises, Brazil (133K) #2 Fundación Para el Progreso, Chile (50K)
PragerU continues to attract a massive following for its short videos. Unlike other groups mentioned in this article, PragerU grew on Facebook, Twitter, and other popular platforms. As in 2021, PragerU ranks first in categories other than web traffic. Except for LinkedIn, where they doubled their network, PragerU scored better than think tanks. National Review and Reason continue to lead in traffic among groups anchored on their magazines.
Leaders in pro-free-market videos, magazines and news outlets include:
· Most Facebook likes: #1 PragerU (4.441 million) #2 CNSNews (2.309 million)
· Most Twitter followers: #1 PragerU (618K) #2 Brasil Paralelo (348K)
· Most monthly visitors to the website, as reported by SimilarWeb: #1 National Review (6.7 million) #2 Reason (3 million)
· Most subscribers to YouTube channel: #1 PragerU (2.94 million) #2 BrasilParalelo (2.54 million)
· Most views of YouTube video uploaded in last 12 months: #1 PragerU (7.674 million) #2 Brasil Paralelo (2.007 million)
· Most Instagram followers: #1 PragerU (1.9 million) #2 BrasilParalelo (1.2 million)
Turning Point leader among youth groups
Turning Point USA, like PragerU, continues to grow in most categories. The organization identifies, educates, trains, and organizes students to promote freedom. Among think tanks, only Heritage has more Twitter followers than Turning Point. It has now passed Heritage in Facebook likes. Its CEO and founder, Charlie Kirk, now has 1.9 million followers on Instagram and 1.7 million on Twitter. The organization now has an annual budget of over $50 million. It has attracted and empowered many other young voices to achieve a wide following. Candace Owens, for example, now has 4.3 million followers on Instagram. She beats Kirk on these platforms with 3 million followers on Twitter and 1.8 million on Parler.
Turning Point also has a considerable lead in Facebook likes. Leadership Institute’s Campus Reform project, also focusing on university students, ranks first in web traffic. Young Americans for Freedom had the video with the most views during the last twelve months.
Among grassroots and activist groups, Judicial Watch is the leader. It is the pro-free-economy organization with the largest budget in my sample. It averages a yearly income of $100 million from over 600,000 donors. It has 1.6 million followers on Twitter, 899K followers on Instagram, 6.6 million likes on Facebook, and 489K subscribers on YouTube.
Organizations favorable to a free economy social media impact: presence in Twitter, Facebook, … [+]
The Hoover Institution (at Stanford University) and Mercatus Center (at George Mason University) continue to lead among pro-free-market university-based centers. University-based think tanks are one of the fastest-growing segments in the market. Perhaps I missed some new university group, but I doubt any now outperform these two longtime leaders.
Each year I try to see if I neglected any pro-free-society group excelling on a social media platform. This time I looked into another of the fastest-growing segments of the think tank market: that which focuses on legal defense, legal training, investigations, and judicial activism. I have been including Judicial Watch in my analysis; among the organizations that complement its work, none excels on all platforms. Alliance Defending Freedom, ADF, leads in Facebook likes, with over 1.6 million, more than ten times the Institute for Justice and the Federalist Society. ADF also leads on Instagram with almost 19K followers. The Federalist Society leads in Twitter followers (62K) and LinkedIn, with 16K people in its network. Project Veritas leads in YouTube subscribers (1.48 million), and the Institute for Justice had the most popular video during the last twelve months (6.7 million views).
Podcasts
Most think tanks that promote a free economy have podcasts. Unlike most other platforms, I have not found open-source information about the number of listeners reached by different groups. Until I get a large enough sample, I will rely on information personally provided by some groups’ social media managers.
Like last year, I started with the leading think tank on social media, the Heritage Foundation. Their ten different Heritage podcast channels attracted more than 3.5 million listens in 2020. In 2021 they combined their nine podcasts on the Heritage Podcast Network to provide listeners with an easier way to access their programs. Their combined shows received 3.1 million total listens in 2021. The Dai
This year I also asked the Heartland Institute for their numbers. Heartland produces eight podcasts (plus a “fire-hose” feed called the Heartland Daily Podcast) that got 6.2 million listens in 2021. Its most-popular individual show is In the Tank, the flagship weekly podcast with 1.4 million hits in 2021. Heartland’s 2021 budget was $4,350,000, just over 5% of Heritage’s, which shows that the organization’s size does not matter much when it comes to podcasts.
Social media influencers
In previous analyses, I mentioned the Brazilian philosopher Olavo de Carvalho (1947-2022), who at the time of his death earlier this year had over 3 million followers on all platforms combined. His large following on social media helps put some think tank numbers in perspective. Following in the footsteps of Carvalho is the Argentinean Agustín Laje Arrigoni, who already has more than 2.8 million followers on the leading platforms. His YouTube channel is approaching 1.3 million subscribers. Laje, who is only 33 years old and is studying for a Ph.D. in philosophy, is one of the founders of the LIBRE think tank, an organization primarily present in social media. It focuses on economic freedom and responsibility and combatted socialist ideologies and movements. Laje’s first bestseller, coauthored with Nicolás Marquez, The Black Book of the New Left (El Libro Negro de la Nueva Izquierda), describes the changing tactics of socialists, focusing more on culture and less on economics. It has sold approximately 200,000 copies. His current bestseller, The Cultural Battle (La Batalla Cultural), focuses on how the “new right” should approach the cultural battle. It has sold 20,000 copies since its launch a month ago. Like Carvalho, who wrote in Portuguese, Laje writes in Spanish, so his writings are not yet well known in the English-speaking world.
Three economists from the Spanish-speaking world I mentioned last year continue to expand their social media presence. Juan Ramón Rallo (350K Twitter followers), Daniel Lacalle (318K), and Roberto Cachanosky (285K) are well-respected independent economists who compete and collaborate with think tanks. The first two are from Spain and the last from Argentina. In the English-speaking world, the faithful promoter of economist Thomas Sowell has 871K followers, a 25% increase over last year.
Congratulations to three South American groups listed in this ranking that work in Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela, countries with much smaller populations than Brazil or Mexico. My apologies if I missed a better-scoring free-market organization or policy influencer. Social media influence is a growing field, both in platforms and players, so it is not easy to cover everything. Elon Musk completed his purchase of Twitter just when I was finishing this article. Although there is room for optimism, it is too early to know the impact of Twitter’s new ownership. I had been chatting these past days with George Farmer, the CEO of Parler, about the need for more competition in social media. It is not too early to conclude that efforts for increased competition on social media platforms should continue and would be beneficial for the work of the groups mentioned in this piece and their goals to promote a freer economic system.
Juan Cruz Isetta conducted research for this article, [email protected]
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alejandrochafuen/2022/04/26/the-2022-ranking-of-free-market-think-tanks-measured-by-social-media-impact/