FC Barcelona Crowned Digital Engagement Kings in New Rankings, Real Madrid 2nd

Real Madrid might be the form team in Europe right now, but its bitter rivals FC Barcelona are leading the world of football in social engagement via the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, according to data from ListenFirst.

Bleacher Report has teamed up with ListenFirst to produce a new weekly ranking of the world's top football clubs, based on their success in social engagement for the previous seven days.

The rankings represent a raw aggregate of daily engagements based on owned, earned and organic consumer behavior on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Wikipedia and YouTube.

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In the inaugural rankings, Barcelona lead the pack with a social engagement score of 25,000,000 for the past seven days, which was driven largely by interactions on Instagram following their Champions League victory against Paris Saint-Germain.

ListenFirst / Bleacher Report

Real Madrid—who also enjoyed victory in Europe—are second, with a resurgent Manchester United in third after adding another two wins to make it six victories on the spin for Louis van Gaal's team.

The Premier League theme continues with Arsenal and Chelsea, with Turkish side Besiktas sixth (up nine places), likely driven by their clash with Tottenham in the Europa League.

Our top 10 is completed by Bayern Munich, Galatasaray, Manchester City and Liverpool.

In the trending rankings, there was big movement for PSG as a result of their coming together with Barcelona. Queens Park Rangers are also doing something right on social media, while Olympiacos surely gleaned their boost from the final round of matches in the Champions League group stage.

In the ever-evolving sports industry, where far more fans are able to be captivated on a smartphone than in a stadium, Bleacher Report has teamed up with ListenFirst Media to keep a finger on the pulse of the digital arena. Every Wednesday, ListenFirst Media will provide Bleacher Report with its Digital Engagement Ratings™ for soccer clubs, a syndicated rating system for digital fan engagement. Think decibel meter on the Jumbotron. ListenFirst Digital Engagement Ratings™ aggregate engagement data across the most critical and widely trafficked digital platforms, to assess the level of fan engagement generated by the leading franchises.