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/LeagueTwitterFacebookTotal
1Australian Football League22,049 273,299295,348
2National Rugby League13,413 270,663284,076
3Brisbane Broncos5,840 138,263144,103
4Collingwood Football Club11,821 113,205125,026
5Essendon Football Club9,091 104,372113,463
6Adelaide Football Club7,801 63,75571,556
7St. Kilda Football Club7,104 62,34469,448
8West Coast Eagles3,602 65,42769,029
9Carlton Football Club7,063 59,34566,408
10Gold Coast Titans4,591 57,73462,325
11Melbourne Storm3,654 58,49362,147
12Sydney Swans7,563 51,10958,672
13Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs2,141 52,28454,425
14Wests Tigers3,801 44,02047,821
15Richmond Football Club6,919 35,65942,578
16Fremantle Football Club3,625 36,28739,912
17Hawthorn Football Club5,024 34,47639,500
18St George Illawarra Dragons2,638 35,49738,135
19Sydney Roosters1,743 33,55135,294
20Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles2,798 29,59532,393
21Port Adelaide Football Club3,299 24,95828,257
22 *Newcastle Knights027,99527,995
23North Melbourne Football Club5,725 21,94527,670
24Western Bulldogs2,840 24,13026,970
25 *Brisbane Lions023,43523,435
26Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks1,432 19,89221,324
27Gold Coast Football Club4,260 12,37916,639
28Melbourne Football Club3,963 12,60716,570
29Penrith Panthers016,23316,233
30 *South Sydney Rabbitohs3,610 8,79612,406
31 *Geelong Football Club4,226 7,45611,682
32North Queensland Cowboys695 82848979
33New Zealand Warriors086998699
34Parramatta Eels2761 44517212
35Greater Western Sydney Giants2406 19144320
36 *Canberra Raiders1742 01742

* 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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