For some people in Brazil, the 2014 FIFA World Cupmay not be the best way of using taxpayers’ money. But for the rest of the world, the internationally acclaimed sporting event is a big TV show, and a springboard for social media. A study by Adobe Systems released last week even predicted that this year’s World Cup will generate more social buzz than any other sporting event, surpassing Sochi Olympic Games and the 2014 Super Bowl.
Until its kick-off on June 12, the World Cup had generated more than 19 million social mentions with 90% of the world contributing to these conversations. Those stats were quantified through Adobe’s Digital Index, a tool developed by Adobe and GSP to measure not only TV impressions but also online and social impressions, which captured data through Adobe Social from social channels including blogs, Facebook, Google+, Reddit, Twitter, Dailymotion, Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, Foursquare and Youtube. More than 69 million social mentions have been included in the sample from 230 countries and territories talking about the World Cup
The fact that the World Cup is taking place in Brazil should also contribute to making it a social media phenomenon. With over one billion users around the world, Facebook has 86 million active users only in Brazil. With about 10% of Brazil’s population also active on Twitter, and the top footballers from around the world each boasting millions of followers, many of whom from the so-called “country of soccer,” the stage is being set for some record-breaking social media.
The most-tweeted TV event of the 2013-14 TV season was this year’s Super Bowl on Fox , for which 15.3 million users of the microblog saw a total of 1.8 billion tweets about the game and halftime show, according to Nielsen. The World Cup is expected to surpass those figures on a global basis, although not in the U.S. — only 7% of Americans say they plan to follow the 2014 soccer tournament closely, and two-thirds don’t expect to tune in at all, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Out of the pre-WC chatter, according to the Adobe study, the Asia-Pacific region is producing the most World Cup social buzz with 48% share, followed by Europe, the Middle East and Africa at 32% and the Americas with 20%. Japan tops all countries with 37% of all mentions, beating out the U.K. (11%), Brazil (9%), Germany (8%) and U.S (8%). Germany has the highest social buzz as a percentage of total Twitter users (17%) in its country, followed by Japan (11%), Nigeria (8%), France (5%) and U.K. (5%).
That level of excitement means that millions of fans will watch the games — and many of them will be actively posting about it to celebrate the highs and lows of the onscreen action. That could be a great opportunity for auto-promotion for the true stars of the World Cup: the players.
Take the example of Cristiano Ronaldo, the highest-paid soccer player in the world and also the second highest-paid athlete, who tops the list of The Top 15 Social Networking Superstars of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. We looked at the players with the most Twitter and Instagram followers, and Facebook fans, and added the numbers together to come up with our ranking. Considering his online fan base, Ronaldo’s social media presence reaches up to 117.4 million users, roughly twelve times the population of Portugal, the footballer’s homeland. Apart from his commercial good looks, Ronaldo’s popularity on social media is also a contributing factor for him to land mega sponsorships, like his recent deal with Tag Heuer and a personal brand of underwear labeled CR7 on top of his long-term Nike deal.
Seven of the Top 15 Social Networking Superstars of the 2014 FIFA World Cup are also among the list of the highest-paid soccer players in the world, and while Brazil has one of the most active online fandoms, only two soccer players from the South American nation, which is favorite to win the World Cup, made the list (Neymar and David Luiz, respectively on the 3rd and 12th places). For now, Spain is winning the World Cup of social networking, with six players among the Top 15 Social Networking Superstars of the World Cup
But as the humbling 4-0 defeat of Ronaldo and his Portugal teammates to Germany exemplified today, winning in the social networking game does not mean winning in the field.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
Twitter: 26.9 million
Facebook: 85 million
Instagram: 5.5 million
TOTAL: 117.4 million
2. Lionel Messi
Twitter: 1.12 million
Facebook: 58 million
Instagram: 3.4 million
TOTAL: 62.52 million
3. Neymar
Twitter: 11.2 million
Facebook: 25 million
Instagram: 6 million
TOTAL: 42.2 million
4. Wayne Rooney
Twitter: 8.96 million
Facebook: 21 million
Instagram: 548,000
TOTAL: 30.51 million
5. Andres Iniesta
Twitter: 8.8 million
Facebook: 20 million
Instagram: 809,000
TOTAL: 29.61 million
6. Mesut Ozil
Twitter: 6.08 million
Facebook: 20 million
Instagram: 1 million
TOTAL: 27.08 million
7. Iker Casillas
Twitter: 1.99 million
Facebook: 19 million
Instagram: 1.7 million
TOTAL: 22.69 million
8. Gerard Pique
Twitter: 8.62 million
Facebook: 12 million
Instagram: 1 million
TOTAL: 21.62 million
9. David Villa
Twitter: 6.05 million
Facebook: 14 million
Instagram: 615,000
TOTAL: 20.66 million
10. Sergio Ramos
Twitter: 4.58 million
Facebook: 13 million
Instagram: 524,000
TOTAL: 18.1 million
11. Robin Van Persie
Twitter: 5.27 million
Facebook: 9.6 million
Instagram: 589,000
TOTAL: 15.46 million
12. David Luiz
Twitter: 2.78 million
Facebook: 9.8 million
Instagram: 1.7 million
TOTAL: 14.28 million
13. Karim Benzema
Twitter: 186,000
Facebook: 13 million
Instagram: 646,000
TOTAL: 13.83 million
14. Cesc Fabregas
Twitter: 6.75 million
Facebook: 5.3 million
Instagram: 1.5 million
TOTAL: 13.55 million
15. Sergio Aguero
Twitter: 5.9 million
Facebook: 5.8 million
Instagram: 453,000 million
TOTAL: 12.15 million
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