How popular was Burns Night across the world?

With so few words he could say so much - now fans of Robert Burns can show their admiration in 140 characters or less.

He is celebrated the world over - with Robbie Burns also having the Twittersphere at his feet.

New research has found that thousands Tweets were sent the world over about Burns Night as people took to the micro-blogging site to express their admiration for the Bard around his birthday.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A breakdown of Twitter activity from marketing and technology agency DigitasLBi shows that people in Edinburgh are more likely to tweet about Burns than people from any other city.

The analysis is based on over 80,000 tweets using the #burnsnight hashtag or that mentioned ‘burns night’ between 00.00 am on 23rd and 2pm on 26th.

Glasgow was next, followed by Dundee and Aberdeen. Manchester was fifth in the league followed by Liverpool. Toronto, Canada, came in at number 10.

The Netherlands was named as the third most likely country to tweet about Burns night, behind the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Read More
Video: Outlander’s Sam Heughan recites Burns A Red, Red Rose
Robert Burns was mentioned across the Twittersphere in the build up to Burns night.Robert Burns was mentioned across the Twittersphere in the build up to Burns night.
Robert Burns was mentioned across the Twittersphere in the build up to Burns night.

Burns’ international reach is made clear from the research. The United States was the fourth most likely country to tweet about Burns, followed by Canada and Morocco

From there, Australia, Spain, France and Germany were the next countries where Burns was a popular topic.

Many of the top tweeting countries have long links with Scotland through emigration.

The research, also examined which particular drams were being raised in the Twittersphere on Burns Night.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It emerged that Laphroaig, the most peaty of all the Islay malts, was mentioned in a quarter (25.5 per cent) of all Tweets which mentioned specific whisky brands as well as Burns.

Glengoyne was mentioned in one-in-10 Burns-related posts that also mentioned a whisky brand, followed by Bruichladdich (4.6 per cent), Glenfiddich (4.2 per cent) and Talisker (4 per cent)

Further analysis of whisky tastes around Burns night shows that just over half of all tweets which mentioned a specific whisky brand (52 per cent) referenced a Speyside malt with just under a quarter (23 per cent) giving a nod to a Highland drop.

The number fell away to 13 per cent for whiskies distilled on Islay.

DigitasLBi also looked at world tastes in whisky by further analysing the Burns-night Tweets.

It found that those in North and South America prefer: a smokier full bodied whisky while Europeans were more likely to favour a lighter bodied whisky with floral and fruity tones,

Both those tweeting in Asia and Australia favoured a dram with floral, spicy and honeyed hints

In Africa, those who expressed a preference for a Burns Night nip were more likely to choose a smoky, spicy nutty, medicinal drop.

The full results are listed below:

Robert Burns was mentioned across the Twittersphere in the build up to Burns night.Robert Burns was mentioned across the Twittersphere in the build up to Burns night.
Robert Burns was mentioned across the Twittersphere in the build up to Burns night.

Top countries (UK) tweeting about Burns Night:

Scotland

England

Northern Ireland

Wales

Top 10 countries tweeting about Burns Night:

UK

Rep of Ireland

Netherlands

US

Canada

Morocco

Australia

Spain

France

Germany

Top 10 cities (worldwide) tweeting about Burns Night:

Edinburgh

Glasgow

Dundee

Aberdeen

Manchester

Liverpool

Bristol

Leeds

Birmingham

Toronto

Most tweeted about whisky brands: share of total tweets

Laphroaig

Glengoyne

Bruichladdich

Glenfiddich

Talisker

Most tweeted about whisky regions: share of total tweets

Speyside

Highland

Islay

Island

Lowland

Campbeltown