Finding Europe's missing user-generated content
Finding Europe’s missing user-generated content
02.12.21
Europe is still home to many of the world’s most talked about cities, but its leaders are far less visible than before the pandemic, and online news has become far more prominent as social media mentions disappear.
ING Global Cities Digital Visibility Series 2021
ING’s research, now in its third year, has identified Europe’s Top 60 cities using existing global city rankings and reordered them according to their share of news and social media conversations. This global exploration into digital visibility provides insight into the impact digital messaging has on investment, where talent concentrates, and our travel choices. Overall the lead enjoyed by the most visible cities has shrunk, largely due to a reduction in user generated content. Pandemic disruption has also created a brief window for less visible cities to more effectively define their own narratives and invest in national and global networks.
“London continues to be the most talked about city in Europe, but this position is by no means unchallengeable. The pandemic has created new opportunities for cities to refresh their offer by linking local recovery responses with content that creates regular and compelling entry points across local, national and international audiences.”
Europe’s most talked about cities (2021)
Despite significantly less activity, London (1), Paris (2), Madrid (3) and Barcelona (5) have retained their positions for three years, with Rome unseating Istanbul to return to the 4th spot. London and Paris share over a quarter of the online conversation for the Top 60 cities. This is lower than in previous years, with the pandemic reducing London’s visibility on social media by 25% and Paris’ by 20% during 2020. Madrid has also narrowed the clear lead these cities enjoyed in 2019 and 2018.
Within the overall ranking, cities like Ankara, The Hague, Porto, Lyon and Luxembourg City are punching well above their weight. In previous years, cities punching above their weight tended to perform relatively poorly for traditional news coverage, with huge amounts of user‑generated content boosting their visibility. The pandemic has flipped this pattern, with news becoming far more important.
Places like Zürich, Copenhagen, Tallinn, Stockholm, Helsinki and Bucharest, however, are not realising their comparatively stronger positions and have the most potential to grow their digital profiles.
Seven of the world’s 20 most connected cities are in Europe. London, which is able to influence conversations in more cities than any other city globally, is followed by Paris (5th), Manchester (9th), Berlin (11th), Glasgow (13th), Munich (15th) and Madrid (19th). Cities that have punched above their weight in previous years are well represented in cities with above average network reach, including Glasgow and Manchester.
Some cities, however, have very little capacity to tell their own story. Luxembourg City, Naples, Nice, Zagreb and Reykjavík all rely significantly on other cities to generate mentions about them.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has six cities in Europe’s most talked about cities, more than any other European country, with the results continuing to confirm the link between investment and digital visibility.
“As European cities reboot, strategically refreshing content to support each place’s unique ambition will be key to thriving in a world eager to reconnect.”
Produced by ING Media, this research is designed to help city policy and place makers understand how online presence impacts a city’s brand. ING works with over 30 cities in the UK and internationally including Glasgow, the West Midlands Combined Authority, Scottish Cities Alliance, Key Cities and Helsinki, as well as major developers, architects and other place makers to effectively communicate their stories by linking digital visibility into a wider communications strategy.
The full ranking of Europe’s most talked about cities (2021 edition) is: London, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Barcelona, Istanbul, Milan, Berlin, Moscow, Ankara, Manchester, Brussels, Lyon, Vienna, Porto, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Dublin, Prague, Geneva, Athens, Munich, Birmingham, Lisbon, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Stockholm, Marseille, Luxembourg City, Warsaw, Valencia, Kiev, The Hague, Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Helsinki, Stuttgart, Zürich, Budapest, Oslo, St. Petersburg, Naples, Belgrade, Düsseldorf, Antwerp, Kraków, Nice, Basel, Zagreb, Bucharest, Riga, Gothenburg, Tallinn, Bratislava, Eindhoven, Sofia, Vilnius, Ljubljana, Reykjavik.
If you would like to learn more about how ING works with cities email: cities@ING-media.com
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