Network Noise

In a world where each brand is beginning to increase its Social Media budget, the IPL teams have no intention to be left behind. Well-aware of the viral potential of this medium, each team has invaded the social media sphere to bring its large scale of fans together.

Let’s take Facebook for instance. Winners of the Champion League 2011, Mumbai Indians lead the way here as well with a whopping 2.6 million Likes. The entire team led by Harbhajan Singh declares boldly on the cover photo, “Duniya Hila Denge Hum!” An actively maintained page, it also offers fans the appealing option of interacting with players. From ‘Wish Sachin’ to ‘Meet the Players’ to ‘MI Paltan’ as well as personal videos of each player on the page, Mumbai Indians definitely know how to capture ‘millions’ of hearts.

Lagging way behind with Likes only in the six-digit range, the other teams still have active fan-following on their Facebook pages. Delhi Daredevils relies on contests like ‘Devil’s Eleven’ a merchandise-winning competition, Dare2Wish Contest to win IPL tickets, ‘Twitter Anagram’ and ‘Fan of the Week’. With something new to offer, Kolkata Knight Riders’ Facebook page encourages you to check out their very own Match Reports. Rajasthan Royals meanwhile offers you The Locker Room, a weekly dose of news about the team.

Twitter is another medium that can capture action and fans moment to moment. Rajasthan Royals makes its mark here with close to 30,000 followers and 6000+ tweets till date. Score updates, injury updates, owner updates, contest updates: you have it all here and live at that!

Twitter, in addition, offers IPL fans the opportunity for frank expression of sentiments, thanks to the power of the famous hashtag. Conducting a sentiment analysis on the tool ‘Twitter Sentiment’ reveals that things are not as hunky-dory for Mumbai Indians on this platform as they are on Facebook. Around one-third of the sentiments being tweeted about Mumbai Indians at the moment are negative. By contrast, Delhi Daredevils has definitely got a sweet spot in our hearts, as evidenced by the 90% positivity towards the team on Twitter.

Sentiments, updates, scores, photos and posts are pouring in on Social Media platforms even at this very moment. Forget the pitch; this is where all the action is!