By Paul Nicholson
December 11 – Manchester United have continued to outperform their Twitter rivals in the Premier League with a massive increase of over 150,000 followers in the last 4 weeks. At the top of the Twitter table they now have Arsenal very much in their sights and could overtake them by mid January at the current rate of increase.
In terms of followers over the past 4 weeks, Man Utd have more than halved the gap on leaders Arsenal – from a difference in 236,573 to a difference of 102,598.
Both Arsenal and Man Utd can be expected to be close to reaching the pinnacle of 7million followers by the end of the season.
To put it into perspective, Man Utd’s increase in four weeks is more than the 110,000 in total followers that AFC Bournemouth have – though Bournemouth have already outperformed last season’s bottom club Burnley who struggled to overcome the 100K barrier.
AFC Bournemouth have increased their total followers by 7.4% whilst Man Utd’s increase was 2.45%.
Arsenal and Liverpool are 2nd and 3rd respectively in the 4-week ranking with each gaining over 100,000 new followers. This is significant as Chelsea had been running a consistent second or third in the weekly ranking but are now consistently trailing in fourth and only managed 74,000 new followers over the 4-week period.
Man City are fifth, 22,000 new followers behind Chelsea and Tottenham come next with half the new followers that City put on in the period. The drop off from Spurs to the rest of the league is not so steep with Everton only about 2,000 behind and Leicester City making galloping gains in line with their runaway form at the top of the league.
Good league form generally equates to the level of new twitter followers gained, as Chelsea and Leicester City illustrate this in the last 4-week period. Even Manchester United, who generally break any conventional rule of thumb when it comes to growth, benefit significantly from improved playing form, perhaps indicating a wider business priority that the brand is still significantly dependent on winning on the pitch.
Premier League twitter rankings – last 4 weeks
Source: all tables Sports Perspective
Premier League Twitter ranking (all followers)
Looking at the number of tweets made, it is clear Arsenal aren’t giving up their top position in the followers chart without a fight and have been the most active tweeters over the last four weeks with West Ham second and Man Utd third.
Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Saints and Everton come in close behind that.
Newcastle have been the leas active – not surprisingly with the problems that the club has been facing on the pitch, though they are now well positioned to fight against the relegation battle through Christmas. Whether the same can be said of Mike Ashley remains to be seen following the bad press Sports Direct have faced in the press this week and the decrease in value of shares.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734797543labto1734797543ofdlr1734797543owedi1734797543sni@n1734797543osloh1734797543cin.l1734797543uap1734797543