MLB Teams on Twitter and Facebook: Two-Year Growth Rates

With a new baseball season underway I thought I’d check in on the 30 MLB teams on Twitter and Facebook. Which teams are seeing the most growth?

I have not done a sports team comparison post in quite a while, mainly because the figures quickly become outdated and total reach is not all that important to look at.

But one advantage of having done this in the past is that I have previous figures to compare against.

Since it has been two years since I did The Most Popular MLB Teams on Twitter and Facebook I thought it would be interesting to revisit this and capture the growth rate for all the teams.

MLB Teams on Twitter

First the teams’ official Twitter profiles.

Here are the 30 baseball clubs ranked by two-year growth rate:

		Twitter followers 4/10/12	Twitter followers 4/5/10	Two-Year Growth Rate
1	Milwaukee Brewers	66,756	1,653	3938%
2	Chicago White Sox	53,642	1,524	3420%
3	St. Louis Cardinals	124,175	3,976	3023%
4	Colorado Rockies	36,431	1,237	2845%
5	Chicago Cubs	110,648	4,595	2308%
6	Toronto Blue Jays	110,659	4,775	2217%
7	Boston Red Sox	230,621	10,127	2177%
8	Houston Astros	29,255	1,336	2090%
9	Texas Rangers	132,593	6,149	2056%
10	Cleveland Indians	50,408	2,360	2036%
11	Miami Marlins	35,520	1,824	1847%
12	Pittsburgh Pirates	39,543	2,636	1400%
13	Washington Nationals	31,467	2,165	1353%
14	San Francisco Giants	239,976	16,742	1333%
15	New York Mets	82,694	6,916	1096%
16	Arizona Diamondbacks	34,104	2,885	1082%
17	Tampa Bay Rays	51,987	4,677	1012%
18	Baltimore Orioles	40,014	3,657	994%
19	Atlanta Braves	147,060	14,626	905%
20	Los Angeles Angels	46,512	4,701	889%
21	Minnesota Twins	71,632	8,046	790%
22	San Diego Padres	34,063	3,996	752%
23	Detroit Tigers	88,899	11,493	674%
24	Cincinnati Reds	81,064	10,910	643%
25	Seattle Mariners	45,832	6,669	587%
26	Kansas City Royals	47,516	7,361	546%
27	Oakland Athletics	40,928	6,365	543%
28	Los Angeles Dodgers	104,760	18,371	470%
29	New York Yankees	563,459	272,665	107%
30	Philadelphia Phillies	682,373	561,223	22%

Not surprisingly the baseball teams with massive growth rates are the ones that were just getting started a couple of years ago. But nice to see those clubs connecting with more fans.

I did not expect to see the Phillies at the bottom of the list but with all the success they’ve had in the past five years or so helped them build up a large following early on.

Plus the Phillies and Yankees were on Twitter’s old Suggested Users list which gave them a big advantage at the time.

Here are the teams ranked by current total followers:

		Twitter followers 4/10/12	Twitter followers 4/5/10	Two-Year Growth Rate
1	Philadelphia Phillies	682,373	561,223	22%
2	New York Yankees	563,459	272,665	107%
3	San Francisco Giants	239,976	16,742	1333%
4	Boston Red Sox	230,621	10,127	2177%
5	Atlanta Braves	147,060	14,626	905%
6	Texas Rangers	132,593	6,149	2056%
7	St. Louis Cardinals	124,175	3,976	3023%
8	Toronto Blue Jays	110,659	4,775	2217%
9	Chicago Cubs	110,648	4,595	2308%
10	Los Angeles Dodgers	104,760	18,371	470%
11	Detroit Tigers	88,899	11,493	674%
12	New York Mets	82,694	6,916	1096%
13	Cincinnati Reds	81,064	10,910	643%
14	Minnesota Twins	71,632	8,046	790%
15	Milwaukee Brewers	66,756	1,653	3938%
16	Chicago White Sox	53,642	1,524	3420%
17	Tampa Bay Rays	51,987	4,677	1012%
18	Cleveland Indians	50,408	2,360	2036%
19	Kansas City Royals	47,516	7,361	546%
20	Los Angeles Angels	46,512	4,701	889%
21	Seattle Mariners	45,832	6,669	587%
22	Oakland Athletics	40,928	6,365	543%
23	Baltimore Orioles	40,014	3,657	994%
24	Pittsburgh Pirates	39,543	2,636	1400%
25	Colorado Rockies	36,431	1,237	2845%
26	Miami Marlins	35,520	1,824	1847%
27	Arizona Diamondbacks	34,104	2,885	1082%
28	San Diego Padres	34,063	3,996	752%
29	Washington Nationals	31,467	2,165	1353%
30	Houston Astros	29,255	1,336	2090%

I thought the Yankees and Red Sox would be at the top but nice job by the Phillies to be #1 despite the poorest two-year growth rate.

We’ll see if all the attention the new look, new stadium Miami Marlins are getting (both positive and negative) will start pushing their Twitter numbers up.

Right now approximately 30K followers is the bottom of the range. That is still fairly low (hey teams near the bottom, do some more promotion!) but up considerably from the low end of 1.5K two years ago.

MLB Teams on Facebook

Now a look at the official Facebook pages.

First the two-year growth rates:

		Facebook likes 4/10/12	Facebook likes 4/5/10	Two-Year Growth Rate
1	Texas Rangers	1,223,799	118,638	932%
2	Los Angeles Dodgers	964,330	171,098	464%
3	Cincinnati Reds	525,261	98,632	433%
4	San Diego Padres	366,680	77,636	372%
5	Pittsburgh Pirates	315,023	68,085	363%
T-6	Atlanta Braves	1,095,495	242,171	352%
T-6	Los Angeles Angels	447,185	98,922	352%
8	New York Yankees	5,359,534	1,249,555	329%
9	San Francisco Giants	1,373,552	321,164	328%
10	Toronto Blue Jays	406,837	98,513	313%
11	Colorado Rockies	446,302	109,960	306%
12	St. Louis Cardinals	1,227,815	305,230	302%
13	Detroit Tigers	963,627	248,167	288%
14	Tampa Bay Rays	406,644	107,636	278%
T-15	Arizona Diamondbacks	237,985	63,118	277%
T-15	Chicago White Sox	854,104	226,825	277%
17	Baltimore Orioles	346,308	92,042	276%
18	Seattle Mariners	476,187	135,240	252%
19	Philadelphia Phillies	1,179,318	337,405	250%
20	Cleveland Indians	505,293	147,130	243%
21	Milwaukee Brewers	565,989	169,004	235%
22	Boston Red Sox	3,502,176	1,052,128	233%
23	Washington Nationals	138,707	42,411	227%
24	Houston Astros	404,990	125,677	222%
25	New York Mets	551,335	181,531	204%
26	Miami Marlins	244,331	81,382	200%
27	Chicago Cubs	1,583,999	537,492	195%
28	Minnesota Twins	742,815	272,034	173%
29	Kansas City Royals	281,070	112,616	150%
30	Oakland Athletics	305,993	189,187	62%

The Rangers have nearly twice the growth rate of any team which is not surprising considering they were in the World Series the last two seasons.

The Dodgers have also seen a lot of growth. This might partly be a large market getting more active or perhaps all the attention around the team sale has sparked more fan interest.

Overall the Facebook growth percentages are considerably smaller than Twitter but the teams have attracted much larger fan bases on Facebook. In many cases the 2010 Facebook numbers are still larger than the 2012 Twitter numbers.

Now the MLB team pages ranked by total likes:

		Facebook likes 4/10/12	Facebook likes 4/5/10	Two-Year Growth Rate
1	New York Yankees	5,359,534	1,249,555	329%
2	Boston Red Sox	3,502,176	1,052,128	233%
3	Chicago Cubs	1,583,999	537,492	195%
4	San Francisco Giants	1,373,552	321,164	328%
5	St. Louis Cardinals	1,227,815	305,230	302%
6	Texas Rangers	1,223,799	118,638	932%
7	Philadelphia Phillies	1,179,318	337,405	250%
8	Atlanta Braves	1,095,495	242,171	352%
9	Los Angeles Dodgers	964,330	171,098	464%
10	Detroit Tigers	963,627	248,167	288%
11	Chicago White Sox	854,104	226,825	277%
12	Minnesota Twins	742,815	272,034	173%
13	Milwaukee Brewers	565,989	169,004	235%
14	New York Mets	551,335	181,531	204%
15	Cincinnati Reds	525,261	98,632	433%
16	Cleveland Indians	505,293	147,130	243%
17	Seattle Mariners	476,187	135,240	252%
18	Los Angeles Angels	447,185	98,922	352%
19	Colorado Rockies	446,302	109,960	306%
20	Toronto Blue Jays	406,837	98,513	313%
21	Tampa Bay Rays	406,644	107,636	278%
22	Houston Astros	404,990	125,677	222%
23	San Diego Padres	366,680	77,636	372%
24	Baltimore Orioles	346,308	92,042	276%
25	Pittsburgh Pirates	315,023	68,085	363%
26	Oakland Athletics	305,993	189,187	62%
27	Kansas City Royals	281,070	112,616	150%
28	Miami Marlins	244,331	81,382	200%
29	Arizona Diamondbacks	237,985	63,118	277%
30	Washington Nationals	138,707	42,411	227%

Here the Yankees and Red Sox take their expected positions and the Yankees are #1 by a large margin.

The Phillies are still top 10 but they are more in the pack on Facebook (again a testament to the power of the Twitter Suggested Users list).

The Nationals’ last place position on Facebook and #29 ranking on Twitter gives them the smallest combined following.