I’m not doing much of an analysis here as I’m still gathering data. One difference between these two leagues that I see right off the bat is the type of presence. For the A-League, there are a number of accounts created by fans dedicated to teams. There are a few player and coach accounts for the A-League but not many. The fan based accounts are just bigger, have more followers and appear more important to the fandom.
In comparison, the NBL appears to have a large number of players on Twitter. In some cases, the players appear to be at have decided to have staked out their own user name, if only to have it. Some engage but many don’t have images. A few have their tweets protected. Most don’t have branded backgrounds or even list that they are playing in the NBL.
That’s a big difference. Is this a result of league policy regarding the use of social media? Or is it a difference in sports culture, where NBL basketball players are say modeling NBA players and A-League players are emulating their European and America peers who appear to be less active on social networks?
