5 Footballers Making the Most Social Media Noise Right Now
Which footballers are making the most noise?
Cristiano Ronaldo has a pretty strong claim after his Ballon d'Or post sent Instagram into meltdown when more than one million people liked it.
Equally, Mario Balotelli was no shrinking violet when his social media post—"Jump like a black man and grab coins like a Jew"—sparked global controversy and an investigation by the FA, as reported by the Mirror.
But is this idea of "noise" a useless metric that has nothing to do with the beautiful game? Or is it something we need to be aware of and measure? The case study that is David Beckham shows it could be the latter.
In his heyday, the man commanded more column inches and airtime than most world leaders. During his time at LA Galaxy, he won titles, sold shirts, filled stadiums and left with $255 million, according to Forbes.
In fact, he was so powerful the MLS league itself "expanded by about 50 percent, with new teams announced during the Beckham era," as reported by USA Today.
Of course he was pretty decent at football too, but what's clear is "noise" has some purpose in football and can be invaluable for those who wield its power correctly. That said, here are five players making the most noise both on and off the pitch at the moment.
The good, the bad and the noisy.
5. Cesc Fabregas
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For some, the Chelsea and Spanish international Cesc Fabregas might be a surprise entry on this list. His cupboard isn't buckling under the weight of last year's trophies compared to others in the list nor is he embroiled in controversy.
Also his social media statistics of 7.57 million on Twitter, 2.6 million on Instagram and 6.5 million on Facebook are dwarfed by some other entrants.
So how exactly did Cesc make the list?
He seems to genuinely love social media, that's how. According to the social media metric website Twtrland, he receives 56,032 retweets per 100 tweets which is amazing. But what's even more impressive is these aren't from carefully constructed viral campaigns created by sponsors.
Instead they are quite genuine heartfelt posts about his family and friends. Perhaps best demonstrated when recently he took to social media to announce his girlfriend was pregnant, as reported by the Daily Mirror.
Of course the company he keeps on social media helps too. Out of everyone on this list, Fabregas is perhaps the biggest "social butterfly"—as Twtrland reports, he regularly talks to Spanish team-mates Gerard Pique, with his 10 million followers, and Carles Puyol, with his 7.54 million followers.
This, of course, dramatically increases the visibility of his Twitter profile as he pops up in millions of football fans' news feeds all over the world.
Nowhere was this more evident than in a tweet he sent paying homage to Thierry Henry after the Frenchmen announced his retirement. In it he said, "Sad to see the end to the career of one of the best players I've ever played with. A true legend @thierryhenry! ;-)" which received 6,824 retweets.
Add to this the fact he was embroiled in the speculation surrounding Lionel Messi's move to Chelsea, as reported by the Daily Mail, and all of a sudden Cesc's entry in the list seems pretty justified.
4. Ricardo Kaka
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Ricardo Kaka was football's first social media pioneer. In 2012 he became the first athlete to reach 10 million followers on Twitter, as reported by the online news site Mashable. Before he arrived, this was completely unheard of in a world dominated by Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.
Fast forward to 2015 and with 21.9 million followers on Twitter, 3.4 million followers on Instagram and 32 million followers on Facebook, he is still a colossal online force to be reckoned with. For instance, according to Twtrland, he boasts 183,096 retweets per 100 tweets, and his World Cup Facebook post alone with Pele and David Beckham received more than one million likes.
The only reason Kaka finds himself at No. 4 on the list is because public displays of affection with his childhood sweetheart are not enough to make the top three. Granted, it made the news in Yahoo Sport among divorce speculation, but this is nothing compared the social-media savvy elite three of football.
Having said that, he has just followed in Beckham's footsteps and now looks set to forge a career in Major League Soccer in America. Quoting him as saying "I always said that one day I would like to play here," the Orlando Sentinel believes he will "enter Major League Soccer as one of the greatest players to ever sign a contract with the league."
If this is true—and he goes on to emulate Mr Beckham—there's no reason why Kaka can't reclaim his crown of undisputed king of social media in 2015.
3. Mario Balotelli
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The controversial Italian international only has 3.42 million followers on Twitter, 2.2 million followers on Instagram and 10.1 million followers on Facebook.
This pales in comparison to the online juggernaut that is Kaka, so how could he possibly make the top three in the list? Wit, controversy and an FA investigation that's how.
This is because shortly after Manchester United's notable 5-3 defeat to Leicester City, the Liverpool striker sent a tweet simply saying "Man Utd...LOL."
This then got retweeted 198,898 times, ignited a torrent of racist replies and even sparked an investigation by Merseyside police, according to the Guardian website.
To give you an idea of the magnitude and noise of this one tweet, Cesc Fabregas' sincere tweet paying homage to Thierry Henry only received 6,824 retweets. That's how much noise the Liverpool striker can generate in a single social post.
But Mario didn't stop there. In late 2014 he was banned by the FA and fined £25,000 following an Instagram post "regarded as carrying racist and anti-Semitic connotations" as reported by the Telegraph. The post in question featured the Nintendo character Super Mario alongside the words "Jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew."
According to the FA, this was an "aggravated breach" of Rule E3 [2] as "it included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race and/or nationality and/or religion or belief." Mario, of course, apologised, but the die had been cast and the noise been made.
Finally, in 2015, it seems Mario's not about to go quiet on us just yet. Following a string of personal messages on Instagram to Icelandic teenage girls, he found himself making the headlines yet again. This time the Mirror website exposed his chat-up lines, naming and shaming the modern Lothario by publishing screen shots of his chat-up lines.
For all these reasons—and no doubt more to come—Balotelli takes third place in this list.
2. Neymar
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The Brazilian heralded as the new Pele comes in at No. 2 on the list. With 16.6 million followers on Twitter, 14.6 million on Instagram and 51 million on Facebook, it seems Neymar has a penchant for social media, so much so it was reported by Tribal Football that Barcelona requested he tone down the social media activity.
But just how big is he? And how much noise can he generate? A lot, it seems.
On Facebook alone the man can generate 1.8 million likes for a single selfie. This is more than Kaka's World Cup post which came complete with David Beckham and Pele, too. That's how big the Brazilian media maestro is.
But the reason he makes No. 2 on the list is because there's far more to Neymar than fantastic hair and unique tattoos. According to the BBC, he was responsible for orchestrating the banana incident with Barcelona team-mate Dani Alves as part of a global anti-racism campaign.
Guga Ketzer, partner in a Brazilian advertising agency, told the BBC: "It's a way for Neymar to engage his audience and express his anger and his hate against the racism in the world."
For this very reason, Neymar is as skilled on social media as he is on the pitch and therefore takes the No. 2 spot.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
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Which means the player making the most noise is Cristiano Ronaldo. A man whose ability on the pitch is only matched by his ability to grab column inches, he dominates social media and creates noise off the pitch.
This is, of course, all fuelled by the greatest collective social media following of any footballer on the planet.
Comprised of 33.2 million followers on Twitter, 11.6 million followers on Instagram and 106 million followers on Facebook, this even competes with—and beats—the followings of global music artists like Katy Perry who trails with 76.9 million fans on Facebook. Remarkably even Justin Bieber is equally unable to compete with Ronaldo with only 77.5 million Facebook fans.
Of course, three Ballon d'Or awards and a collection of domestic and international club accolades help. But this doesn't detract from the fact Twtrland reports that, on average, Ronaldo receives 901,575 retweets per 100 tweets.
He generates this level of engagement quite casually too, posting on average 2.1 times per day compared to Neymar's 24.3 posts per day.
This is, however, explained by the fact the man spends his spare time involved in video stunts that travel the globe in a matter of minutes. How and why this came about isn't clear, but Ronaldo took it upon himself to dress as a homeless man and surprise a fan, as featured in Sean Swaby's aptly entitled Bleacher Report article, "Cristiano Ronaldo Surprises Young Fan While Dressed Up in Disguise."
Essentially, Ronaldo will do anything for his fans and has created an army of followers. An army that continually helps him make the most noise and an army that may see him supersede the achievements of even David Beckham.
All facts and figures correct at the time of writing.
