Given that Superbowl Sunday is upon us, I thought that I’d take the opportunity to examine the effects of Superbowl on the Facebook Pages of the participating teams and some of the players. While this isn’t a comprehensive analysis, we thought that it would be interesting to take a look at some of the related Facebook Pages as the site has become a good measure of societal trends.
Colts Vs Saints: Page Analysis
If Facebook Pages are a good predictor of who was going to win the Super Bowl, the New Orleans Saints would be the favored team. In reality, the New Orleans Saints are the under dog, which may explain why everybody is rooting for them (in addition to the compelling story of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina).
Both teams’ Facebook Pages had comparable fan bases the day before they won their respective championships. However the day after the championships, the Colts had added 30,000 fans while the New Orleans Saints added over 124,000 fans in the same day. While the rate of fan growth is not the most accurate predictor of game wins, it definitely is effective at showing a team’s popularity at any given moment.
Google Trends also showed similar jumps in popularity for each team.
Reggie Bush Photo Contest And Page Growth
Reggie Bush, one of the most popular New Orleans Saints players, has added a contest to his Facebook Page called “Who Dat Fan?”, powered by the Wildfire Promotions application. Fans are encouraged to upload up to 5 photos that express their passion, support, and love for Reggie Bush and the Saints. Fans can submit photos through the rest of today.
So far there have been over 415 entries and the volume has increased over the weekend. Reggie Bush has also had his page double in size in the past week alone (as pictured below). Check out Reggie Bush’s Facebook Page if you are interested in submitting your photos!
Conclusion
Facebook Pages continue to be a great indicator of overall societal trends. While the SuperBowl may not be the most popular sporting event internationally, it’s the most popular sporting event in the United States every year. If you happen to be a fan of the Super Bowl, enjoy watching the game tonight!
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It will be also interesting to see if the fan numbers continue to grow after the game is over, and how the growth changes for the winning team.
Will fans stick by their team after the superbowl is over or will they unsubscribe?
Comment by d — February 7, 2010 @ 2:06 pm
Great post Nick! In the sports arena, playoff and championship games present a potential career changing opportunity for many athletes. If opportunistic they can wildly increase their popularity on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter (although the growth curve is often more noticeable on Facebook Pages).
@d … I can tell you from experience that fans are usually extremely supportive win or lose believe it or not. In the case of Jimmy Rollins' Facebook Page after the Phillies lost the World Series, his page experienced about 10% growth from the outpouring of fan comments saying "thank you" for the wild ride.
Comment by Facebook User — February 7, 2010 @ 2:18 pm
I wonder if you will do the same poll for the World Cup in Football in South Africa? As it is a WORLD game unlike Am. Football & Baseball!
Comment by Merv Quinnell — February 8, 2010 @ 4:20 am
Wildfire (www.wildfireapp.com) is very excited the The “Who Dat Fan?” promotion was such a success!
Comment by Doug — February 8, 2010 @ 11:35 am
Obviously the bookies were not as good as Facebook fans at predicting the result. Here’s a hint – ESPN pundits were 100% wrong on all their predictions in New Orleans Saints games, so if they say who wins you should bet on the other guy every time.
Comment by Mark — February 9, 2010 @ 5:54 pm