Jonathan Ross is the UK’s most influential Twitterer and that Mashable’s Pete Cashmore has the biggest number of followers for a Brit (though we know he spends lot of time in San Francisco these days), but the question that I really wanted to know the answer to is who in the UK tweets the most?

Is it a very bored person in a dull job whose boss hasn’t yet got round to mastering email let alone micro blogging or a social media advocate who has to spend days following everyone and retweeting influentials cos that’s the main part of their job description?

So, some time in April, I started a on a mission to find out who the UK’s top twitterers are.
I guess I was just intrigued by how often people use Twitter and why they use it. Perhaps, most importantly, what kind of people are posting 20 plus tweets a day. Are they as immoral as the Daily Mail thinks they might be?

If you want to do a worldwide list of top tweeters this is very simple. You go to Twitterholics main list and click the tab marked Updates. You’ll then discover that, at the of writing anyhow, it is Internet Radio, which is basically using Twitter to tell its few followers what tunes various web based radio stations are playing. You then have to scroll down a long way before you reach a real person in the guise of Big Willie who has racked up an astonishing 55,000 tweets in six months. He is quite possibly cheating, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for now as I can’t be bothered to spend hours combing through his many pages of tweets.

As for the UK, well the Twitter feeds for media groups like Popbitch, Q radio and The Daily Telegraph are highly popular, but they aren’t really people so I haven’t included them.
There’s also the added difficulty of there not being a single location for the UK which makes it very tricky using Twitterholic. So while I trawled through lists for most of the country’s biggest conurbations, if you are a heavy tweeter in St Neots, Lowestoft or Camspey Ash, I probably missed you.

I did think I had found a winner in Dave Pattern who had racked up over 50k tweets in a couple of years. He did DM me to confess though that many of those tweets were library codes and so he gracefully ducked out of my little poll.

So the real winner, unless you know different, is a web designer from Leeds who goes by the name of Shubox. He is likely to be the first Brit to reach 50k tweets which is a pretty amazing achievement as he needs to have been averaging an impressive 60-ish tweets a day. I DM-ed him but got no response, so I wonder too if he has been tampering with library codes, playlists or something even more sinister.

My number two, Robert Brook has agreed to a mini interview via DM which you can read here very shortly. If you have questions as to why he tweets so much and what he tweets about etc and don’t fancy wading though 35k tweets then tweet me @shinyashley

So here’s the list. I will fess up now that, although it has taken me ages to compile this list, it is quite possibly wrong on many counts, So, if I missed someone please let me know. It would be good to publish a more definitive list in a few weeks time

1 Keith Murdoch (shubox)
47,562 tweets

On Twitter 28 months
Britain’s most prolific tweeter (unless you know different) bills himself as a ‘Scouse Artist living in Leeds as a Web Designer! Occasionally known as Supasnail.’ Like many prolific tweeters he has been on Twitter a long time, but only has a comparatively small amount of followers

Mainly tweets about – Fairly serious tech stuff, Liverpool FC and Rhubarb

Sample tweet – I was often amazed that a Farm in Wakefield seemed to reject tonnes of Rhubarb each year. It’d be piled high for weeks.

2 Robert Brook (robertbrook)
35,411 tweets

On Twitter 32 months
Robert works for the UK parliament as part of skunkworks team, which, if like me you haven’t a clue what that is he defines it as: a group within an organization given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy.

Mainly tweets about – Descriptions about what he is up to (you get to know what he has eaten and when he goes to bed most days)and conversations with other tweeters, plus lots of stuff about getting parliamentary staff using Twitter (now there’s a good idea)

Sample tweet – Bt have sent me a letter about my wife’s death. She’s right here!

3 lo fi (infobunny) London
28,702 Tweets

On Twitter 26 months
Lo fi remains a mystery as she protects her tweets. She’s a librarian which makes me suspicious that she might be doing something with library codes. She also blogs at a cool little site at twitterapps.co.uk

4 Amanda (Hedgewytch)
28,542 Tweets

On Twitter 20 months
Hedgewytch describes herself as a ENFP Mac Support general creative wannabee. Don’t know much else about her as she protects her tweets, but 28k tweets in 20 months sounds like she is either obsessed with Twitter or has been using it for something else interesting.

5 Danie Ware (Danacea)
25,920 Tweets
On Twitter 26 months

Danie is a PR for @forbiddenplanet (dotcom!) and also a Writer, Warrior, Fitness Nut, Geek, Gamer, Art Toy Freak, Mum and Lemur!

Mainly tweets about – Lots of chat with her many followers. Also lets you know how she is faring with the book she writing.

Sample tweet – in dire need of wine. There’s a bottle of Vino Collapso in the fridge calling me – but must finish chapter and put my son to bed first…

6 Jennie (jaffne)
18,340 Tweets

On Twitter 24 months
Another Librarian, this time for a law firm. She also protects her tweets. There’s plenty of legal stuff on her blog.

7 Sizemore (sizemore)
18,163 Tweets

On Twitter 29 months
Sizemore is Mike Atherton, a London-based writer who is not only prolific but also has a lot of followers and is occasionally rather witty.

Mainly tweets about – Lots of TV-related chat with his many mates

Sample tweet – Hello Dublin. Extra points scored for listening to Come Fly With Me by Sinatra while playing FlightControl in the air.

8 Steve Lawson (solobasssteve)
16,614 tweets

On Twitter 15 months
Steve Lawson is a lovely bloke who is quite possibly the world’s best connected bass guitarist. He blogs, lectures, makes vids and from time to time still finds time to play his bass

Mainly tweets about – lovin his bass and his podcasts

Sample tweet – in a sound war of bass vs power tools, I *could* win… but today, I’ll valiantly surrender 😉

9 James Governor (monkchips)
16,405 posts

On Twitter 29 months
James Governor (yep I think that’s his real name) is an industry analyst whose Twitter feed is chocka with interesting little insights into the way he sees the tech world going.

Mainly tweets about – Big companies like IBM and Amazon and the ecosystem that surrounds them.

Sample tweet – Get Excited and Make Things. Work on Stuff That Matters. Ignore Everybody.

10 Charonqc (Charonqc)
16,392 Tweets

On twitter 11 months
Legal blogger – sometimes very funny
Mainly tweets about – getting fit and other law companies

Sample tweet – Allen & Overy is now following me… that’s nice. I wonder what they will get from the experience? They issue lots of bulletins on Twitter

11 Suw (Suw) London http://chocolateandvodka.com
14,306 Tweets

On Twitter 29 months
The original British social media guru who has a very fine and very popular blog. Twitter feed is a must.

12 PaulWalsh (Paulwalsh)
13,869 Tweets

On Twitter – 29 months
Irish entrepreneur and start up guru who spends a lot of time in London. Can be very funny.

13 dominiccampbell (dominiccampbell)
13,621 tweets

On Twitter 22 months
Works on developing social media strategies for governments.

14 amypalko (amypalko)
Tweets 13,496

On Twitter 15 months
Bio says – ‘Fascinated in everything with a limitless curiosity – I live in a state of constant intrigue. ‘ Works in social media then.

15 joannayoung (joannayoung)
13,091 Tweets

On Twitter 20 months
Writing coach who has an interesting blog. Lots of details about her daily life.

16 Ram Solanki (jun6lee) London http://blog.ramchandra.me.uk
12,626 Tweets

On Twitter 22 months
Aspiring screenwriter. Lots of stuff about veggie food.

17 adamjones (applemacbookpro) London http://macbookismydream.blogs…
11,605 Tweets

On twitter 15 months ago
Given the title of his feed no surprise to find he has lots of followers. Lots of tech stuff and many retweets

18 Chris Leydon (chrisleydon) london http://www.chrisleydon.com/blog
11,440 Tweets

On Twitter 13 months ago
Astonishing tweet ratio from this 20-year-old who actually went cold turkey on Twitter a couple of months ago.

19 James Whatley (Whatleydude) London http://whatleydude.com
11,390 Tweets

On Twitter 25 months
Social media for voice to text people Spinvox

20 Phil O’Kane (icedcoffee)
Tweets 11,066

On twitter 26 months
Belfast-based photographer