Footy season is back and so is the battle for the social media fan!

The AFL has the early lead just topping the magical 1 Million social media fan mark with the NRL closing in on 1 Million fans.  Interesting to note the AFL fans have taken to Twitter with twice as many tweeps than the NRL.  Getting numbers in social media is the first step, engaging and maintaining interest with those fans is the far more important step.  Facebook does not publish the Monthly Engagement numbers, it is these numbers that are far more important to measure success on Facebook.  A highly engaged fan base is a MUST, especially given the latest raft of changes on Facebook.

@AFL vs @NRL in a social media arms race

Rankings from SportsFanGraph

As of 8th March 2011 – Updates & Notes below from Sports Geek

# Team/League Twitter Facebook Total
1 Australian Football League 22,049 273,299 295,348
2 National Rugby League 13,413 270,663 284,076
3 Brisbane Broncos 5,840 138,263 144,103
4 Collingwood Football Club 11,821 113,205 125,026
5 Essendon Football Club 9,091 104,372 113,463
6 Adelaide Football Club 7,801 63,755 71,556
7 St. Kilda Football Club 7,104 62,344 69,448
8 West Coast Eagles 3,602 65,427 69,029
9 Carlton Football Club 7,063 59,345 66,408
10 Gold Coast Titans 4,591 57,734 62,325
11 Melbourne Storm 3,654 58,493 62,147
12 Sydney Swans 7,563 51,109 58,672
13 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 2,141 52,284 54,425
14 Wests Tigers 3,801 44,020 47,821
15 Richmond Football Club 6,919 35,659 42,578
16 Fremantle Football Club 3,625 36,287 39,912
17 Hawthorn Football Club 5,024 34,476 39,500
18 St George Illawarra Dragons 2,638 35,497 38,135
19 Sydney Roosters 1,743 33,551 35,294
20 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 2,798 29,595 32,393
21 Port Adelaide Football Club 3,299 24,958 28,257
22 * Newcastle Knights 0 27,995 27,995
23 North Melbourne Football Club 5,725 21,945 27,670
24 Western Bulldogs 2,840 24,130 26,970
25 * Brisbane Lions 0 23,435 23,435
26 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 1,432 19,892 21,324
27 Gold Coast Football Club 4,260 12,379 16,639
28 Melbourne Football Club 3,963 12,607 16,570
29 Penrith Panthers 0 16,233 16,233
30 * South Sydney Rabbitohs 3,610 8,796 12,406
31 * Geelong Football Club 4,226 7,456 11,682
32 North Queensland Cowboys 695 8284 8979
33 New Zealand Warriors 0 8699 8699
34 Parramatta Eels 2761 4451 7212
35 Greater Western Sydney Giants 2406 1914 4320
36 * Canberra Raiders 1742 0 1742

* Updates from Sports Geek

South Sydney Rabbitohs have moved

Facebook page has changed now available here – http://facebook.com/southsydney (36,476 likes)

Updated Total 40,086

Newcastle Knights are tweeting

Newcastle Knights are on Twitter (@NRL_Knights – 721 followers)

Updated Total 28,716

Brisbane Lions getting started in social media

Brisbane Lions are on Twitter (@brisbanelions -1155 followers) but not officially on Facebook.

Updated Total 1155

Cats Insider only for Twitter

Geelong Cats are transitioning to a new Facebook Page – http://www.facebook.com/Geelong.Cats (4687 likes)

Updated Total 8,913

Raiders on Facebook

Canberra Raiders are on Facebook (7112 likes) it is just hard to tell from Raiders.com.au.

Updated Total 8,854

Fans decide

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