DU Sports Twitter Follower Analysis

The number of Twitter followers of a sports team can tell us a lot directionally about its popularity among the ‘Under Age 35’ demographic, as Twitter is rarely used by people over 50. It can also tell us the approximate relative popularity among sports at a given school and relative popularity among peer sports programs at other schools around the country, again among younger people – the future of college sports.

Here are some interesting recent Twitter Follower figures among all DU sports, as of October 1, 2016:

Sport Followers % of “DU” Twitter users (who follow at least one DU sports team)
DU Men’s Lacrosse 22,700 followers 41% of DU Twitter users
DU Hockey 16,000 followers 29% of DU Twitter users
DU Volleyball 2,900 followers 5% of DU Twitter users
DU Gymnastics 2,900 followers 4% of DU Twitter users
DU Men’s Basketball 2,300 followers 4% of DU Twitter users
DU Women’s Lacrosse 1,900 followers 3% of DU Twitter users
DU Women’s Basketball 1,500 followers 3% of DU Twitter users
DU Men’s Soccer 1,300 followers 3% of DU Twitter users
DU Women’s Soccer 1,000 followers 2% of DU Twitter users
DU Swim/Dive 877 followers 2% of DU Twitter users
DU Women’s Golf 827 followers 2% of DU Twitter users
DU Skiing 827 followers 2% of DU Twitter users
DU Men’s Tennis 786 followers 2% of DU Twitter users
DU Women’s Tennis 720 followers 2% of DU Twitter users
DU Men’s Golf 458 followers 1% of DU Twitter users

Here are Twitter Followers at some top 10 men’s lacrosse programs:

Team – Lacrosse Followers
Syracuse University 39.8K
Duke University 31.7K
University of North Carolina 30.4K
University of Maryland 29.2K
Notre Dame University 27.7K
University of Denver 22.1K
Johns Hopkins University 19.3K
Loyola University 17.5K
Brown University 10.2K

Twitter followers among NCHC and some Top D-I hockey schools:

Team – Hockey Followers
University of Minnesota 63.4K
University of Michigan 49K
University North Dakota 45K
Boston College 20.9K
University of Wisconsin 20.7K
Notre Dame University 18.4K
University of Denver 16K
Miami University  (Ohio) 16K
Boston University 13.7K
University of Minnesota-Duluth 12.4K
Providence College 11K
University of Nebraska – Omaha 9K
Western Michigan University 7.9K
Quinnipiac University 7.7K
University of Massachusetts-Lowell 7.5K
St. Cloud State University 6.9K
Yale University 3.8K
Colorado College 1.3K

Twitter followers among Summit League and some Top D-I basketball schools:

Top Tier Basketball Programs Followers
University of North Carolina 474K
Duke University 119K
Gonzaga University 50.8K
Summit Basketball
North Dakota State University 7.9K
South Dakota State University 5.4K
University of Nebraska – Omaha 3.4K
University of Denver 2.3K
Oral Roberts University 2.1K
University of South Dakota 1.6K
Western Illinois University 1.6K
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) 957
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) 936

What does all this data tell us?

Here are some tidbits that emerge from analysis:

  • About 70% of Twitter users who follow specific sports teams at DU, follow Men’s Lacrosse and Men’s Ice Hockey, dwarfing all other sports followers at DU – it tells us what young fans care about at DU, sports wise
  • Somewhat of a surprise was that two DU women’s sports, Volleyball and Gymnastics, have more followers than DU Men’s Basketball, though the numbers are close
  • DU Men’s Lacrosse has 10 times as many Twitter followers as any other sport at DU, except for ice hockey
  • DU Lacrosse has more Twitter followers than the storied lacrosse program at Johns Hopkins, and is pretty close to Notre Dame’s lacrosse program, a far larger sports brand
  • DU Hockey holds its own nationally, with more Twitter followers than much larger Boston University
  • DU Hockey has about 16 times more Twitter followers than rival Colorado College hockey
  • DU Hockey has about 1/3 as many Twitter followers as rival North Dakota in hockey
  • DU Basketball may be dwarfed by other DU sports in terms of Twitter followers, but it holds its own among Summit League Men’s Basketball teams
  • North Carolina Basketball has about 20 times more followers than all of Summit League Basketball programs, combined!

Puck Swami is the internet moniker of a long time DU Sports Fan and Alumnus.

Leave a Reply