Andy Carvin
Followers: 40,000
Sample tweet: "Very disturbing reports about shootings in front of the mosque in Deraa. Pls keep sending me sources. #syrica"
National Public Radio may be known for its sedate tone, but its head of social media has upended the concept of the journalistic front line during the 2011 Arab Spring. Operating out of the Washington area, Andy Carvin has pulled 16-hour days in the virtual trenches of the Arab revolutions. Following the Tunisian protests closely and leaning on his contacts from a 2010 trip to North Africa, Carvin began collecting lists of Egyptian handles early this year; his curated feed provides an unequalled content stream of analysis and on-the-ground reports. This isn't Carvin's first dance with social media, either: he championed the use of Twitter as a tool to report voting irregularities during the 2008 presidential election.