What will happen to Laura Kuenssberg’s BBC twitter account when she moves to ITV?
The announcement that BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg is moving to the newly created position of business editor at ITV has led to many wondering about what will happen to her popular Twitter account.
The account @BBCLauraK has just under 59,000 followers, who enjoy the personality she brings to her tweets, but the problem lies in the name – should it be changed to the name of the political editor who will replace her when she leaves in September? Or is it Kuenssberg the followers want, and not necessarily the content?
As the Guardian’s Jemima Kiss pointed out in her article about who controls the twitter page, it was Kuenssberg the followers signed up for, not someone else.
Another suggestion that has been made is if the account name should be changed to Kuenssberg’s new work, substituting ITV for BBC - but ITV have already set up a Twitter account under the name @ITVLauraK, which has over 800 followers at time of writing despite no posts being made.
The followers came after Kuenssberg tweeted on her BBC feed ‘As you've discovered I will become @ITVLauraK in September! Thanks for all the lovely tweets - Back in Westminster tomorrow’.
This debate raises the questions about if people should bring their name and character into their work Twitter accounts.
On one hand, it adds more personality to what could be bland news; lets the reader know who is writing it; and for a large organisation like the BBC it creates a feeling of engagement more than a bland company twitter account.
On the other hand, it leads to upheaval when someone leaves a company – what happens to the followers?