Bebo and Australian/Kiwi women’s sport

This entry was posted by Laura on Friday, 26 November, 2010 at

Bebo is a social networking site that is popular in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The site’s traffic has been down in the past year or so. It traditionally has has a fairly large contingent of Australian sport fans, with most people being fans of the NRL. It has a smaller population of fans for other sports like the AFL and NBL. There were questions regarding bebo’s viability for most of 2010, when there were rumors that the site would be shut down if it failed to find a buyer. This and a variety of other factors, such as the popularity of Facebook and YouTube, have led to a lot of once active users becoming inactive.
Despite the issues regarding inactivity, it is a site worth looking at to begin to give a snapshot of sorts back in time, to understand the size of Australian and Kiwi women’s sport fandom four years ago to a year ago, when activity levels dropped off. It might be possible to determine where these fans migrated to by looking at growth on other niche networks, which could be useful for determining engagement strategies. This data can also give an idea as to what was popular. If the comparative levels of interest on other networks are not similar, it could suggest that clubs have failed with their marketing strategies or have found a method to really engage in their audience that other clubs could benefit from.

When looking at bebo, there are a variety of ways to do that. One of the first is to use search result totals, and compare the size of the community to other teams and over time. The second way is to look at the size groups/views for videos. The third way is to look at the demographic data for people who lit the team as an interest. This will be broken down by league/federation.

Search: ANZ Championship
The ANZ Championship is the most successful women’s (semi) professional league in Australia.  It makes sense that the team would have the largest amount of interest on bebo.  While this is true,  the community size, the number of groups and videos created by these fans is still extremely limited.  (Their counterparts in the AFL often have 200 to 400 people who list them as an interest.)

Interest People Video Music Groups Apps Skins Date gathered
Melbourne Vixens 3 4 0 0 0 0 19-Nov-10
Melbourne Vixens 3 4 0 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
NSW Swifts 2 0 0 0 0 0 19-Nov-10
NSW Swifts 2 0 0 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
Queensland Firebirds 0 0 1 0 0 0 19-Nov-10
Queensland Firebirds 0 0 1 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
West Coast Fever 0 0 0 0 0 0 16-Aug-10
West Coast Fever 0 0 0 0 0 0 19-Nov-10
West Coast Fever 0 0 0 0 0 0 26-Nov-10

Search: AWIHL
This is a niche league, where the men’s team also fail to have people who list them as an interest. If there is an ice hockey fan base in Australia, it is not on bebo.

Interest People Video Music Groups Apps Skins Date gathered
AWIHL 0 0 0 0 0 0 19-Nov-10

W-League
Somewhat surprisingly, the W-League fanbase on bebo appears to be a bit larger than that of the ANZ Championship. One possible factor for this could be that the overall fan community for soccer is really large on bebo. Another contributing factor could be that the Canberra United attract male fans to the sport that a W-League team may not otherwise get because the United do not have to compete with an A-League club in their city: If you love soccer in Canberra, you support the top level competitions here. Bebo also has a community of people who uploaded videos. Soccer videos are really popular across the whole of the network. Given that, W-League fans may be part of a larger part of video uploading culture that ANZ Championship fans are removed from.

One issue at play with W-League results is that Canberra United content is easier to pull out than the Melbourne Victory, because secondary keywords are needed to differentiate Melbourne Victory W-League results from A-League results. This means that real numbers for the W-League teams could be understated. Similar issues of a sort exist for the W-League, which shares a name with an American women’s soccer competition. This could lead to an over representation when just that term is counted.

Team Interest People Video Music Groups Apps Skins Date gathered
Adelaide United Adelaide United W-League 0 0 0 0 0 0 1-Jul-10
Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar W-League 0 0 0 0 0 0 1-Jul-10
Canberra United Canberra United 4 7 1 2 0 0 16-Aug-10
Canberra United Canberra United 4 7 1 2 0 0 3-Jun-10
Canberra United Canberra United 4 7 1 2 0 0 15-Jun-10
Canberra United Canberra United 4 7 1 2 0 0 25-Jun-10
Canberra United Canberra United 4 7 1 2 0 0 1-Jul-10
Canberra United Canberra United 4 7 0 0 0 0 24-Oct-10
Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners W-League 0 1 0 0 0 0 1-Jul-10
Melbourne Victory W-League Melbourne Victory 0 1 0 0 0 0 1-Jul-10
W-League W-League 41 53 48 58 0 0 25-Jun-10
W-League W-League 41 53 48 58 0 0 1-Jul-10
Canberra United Canberra United 4 7 1 2 0 0 26-Nov-10
Adelaide United Adelaide United W-League 0 0 0 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar W-League 0 0 0 0 0 0 26-Nov-10

WNBL
The WNBL is the premiere women’s basketball competition in Australia. Unlike the NBL, it does not include a New Zealand team. The problem with one of the teams looked at, the West Coast Waves, is that the name is a rather common phrase and almost none of the video results look relevant to the WNBL team. This type of issue can be a huge problem for women’s (and men) sport when doing promotion and reputation management for the club’s brand beyond the players.

Interest People Video Music Groups Apps Skins Date gathered
Perth Lynx 2 1 0 0 0 0 16-Aug-10
West Coast Waves 5 18 0 2 0 0 16-Aug-10
Perth Lynx 2 1 0 0 0 0 25-Nov-10
West Coast Waves 5 18 0 2 0 0 25-Nov-10

WNCL

The WNCL teams being looked at do not share the name issues that their WNBL counterparts share. Unfortunately, they may suffer a problem with not all results being shown as they often have names with sponsors in them. Official and player content may pull up sponsor named related names. The average fan is less likely to use them as fannish identities are not based around who sponsors them.

Interest People Video Music Groups Apps Skins Date gathered
Victorian Spirit 2 1 0 0 0 0 15-Jun-10
Victorian Spirit 2 1 0 0 0 0 16-Aug-10
Western Fury 1 2 0 0 0 0 16-Aug-10
Victorian Spirit 2 1 0 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
Western Fury 2 1 0 0 0 0 26-Nov-10

Search: Women’s World Cup Soccer
The Matildas are Australia’s national women soccer team. As the W-League is larger than the ANZ Championship, it is not surprising that there is a comparable elevated amount of interest in the team.

Interest People Video Music Groups Apps Skins Date gathered
Matildas 22 21 6 1 0 0 1-Jul-10
Matildas 22 21 6 1 0 0 16-Aug-10
Matildas 22 21 6 1 0 0 26-Nov-10

Videos: W-League
Only the W-League Canberra United team were checked. Some of the videos for the team had quite a number of views. bebo’s stagnation is quite clear when looking at this data as the number of views for all videos failed to increase between June 3 and November 26.

Video Total Description Date checked
W-League Final 2009: Queensland Roar V Canberra United -… 0 Viewers W-League Final 2009: Queensland Roar V Canberra United – Goals – 17jan09 3-Jun-10
W-League Final 2009: Queensland Roar V Canberra United -… 0 Viewers W-League Final 2009: Queensland Roar V Canberra United – Goals – 17jan09 26-Nov-10
W-League: Canberra United V Melbourne Victory – Report -… 5 Viewers W-League: Canberra United V Melbourne Victory – Report – 20dec08 3-Jun-10
W-League: Canberra United V Melbourne Victory – Report -… 5 Viewers W-League: Canberra United V Melbourne Victory – Report – 20dec08 26-Nov-10
W-League: Canberra United V Sydney FC – Report – 6dec08 95 Viewers W-League: Canberra United V Sydney FC – Report – 6dec08 3-Jun-10
W-League: Canberra United V Sydney FC – Report – 6dec08 95 Viewers W-League: Canberra United V Sydney FC – Report – 6dec08 26-Nov-10
W-League: Central Coast Mariners V Canberra United – Rep… 8 Viewers W-League: Central Coast Mariners V Canberra United – Report – 13dec08 3-Jun-10
W-League: Central Coast Mariners V Canberra United – Rep… 8 Viewers W-League: Central Coast Mariners V Canberra United – Report – 13dec08 26-Nov-10
W-League: Newcastle Jets V Canberra United – 26oct08 445 Viewers W-League: Newcastle Jets V Canberra United – 26oct08 3-Jun-10
W-League: Newcastle Jets V Canberra United – 26oct08 445 Viewers W-League: Newcastle Jets V Canberra United – 26oct08 26-Nov-10
W-League: Perth Glory V Canberra United – Report – 30nov08 0 Viewers W-League: Perth Glory V Canberra United – Report – 30nov08 3-Jun-10
W-League: Perth Glory V Canberra United – Report – 30nov08 0 Viewers W-League: Perth Glory V Canberra United – Report – 30nov08 26-Nov-10
W-League: Perth Glory V Canberra United – Report – 30nov08 64 Viewers W-League: Perth Glory V Canberra United – Report – 30nov08 3-Jun-10
W-League: Perth Glory V Canberra United – Report – 30nov08 64 Viewers W-League: Perth Glory V Canberra United – Report – 30nov08 26-Nov-10

People: ANZ Championship
The table below includes the demographic data for people who listed ANZ Championship teams as interests on bebo. This data tends to confirm that teams have local interest and don’t have national fan bases.

Interest Name Gender Age City State Country
Adelaide Thunderbirds J A M E S Male 18 South Australia Australia
Adelaide Thunderbirds LiL-Miss-Sharna
Central Pulse Jacinda S Female 19 Tauranga New Zealand
Central Pulse Kaz Hagedorn Female 25 Wellington New Zealand
Central Pulse Magics BOp Female Waikato New Zealand
Central Pulse Rebecca Female 21 Tauranga New Zealand
Melbourne Vixens Chelsea Tobin Female
Melbourne Vixens Elise.
Melbourne Vixens Mrs Lutz. Female Wellington Wellington New Zealand
New South Wales Swifts (Sydney Swifts) ~~mrs~~orlando~~bloom~~ Female 20
New South Wales Swifts (Sydney Swifts) Keegs L Male Parramatta New South Wales Australia
New South Wales Swifts (Sydney Swifts) Kirsten R Female Sydney New South Wales Australia
New South Wales Swifts (Sydney Swifts) Phoebe Zapletal Female Maroota New South Wales Australia
Northern Mystics Keshia Grant Female 23 Eltham Taranaki New Zealand
Southern Steel Ian K Male 18 Coonawarra South Australia Australia
Southern Steel James N Male 19 Christchurch Canterbury New Zealand
Southern Steel James Robinson Male 21 Stafford England United Kingdom
Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Jacinda S Female 19 Tauranga Bay of Plenty New Zealand
Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Magics BOp Female Waikato Bay of Plenty New Zealand
Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Rebecca Female 21 Tauranga Bay of Plenty New Zealand

People: Basketball Australia
The Australian Opals have a similar issue with a few other Australian sport teams: People could use these words but not mean the team. This makes a bit of sense, given that one of the people who list the Opals as an interest is not from Australia.

Interest Name Gender Age City State Country
Australian Opals Lauren Jackson Female 28 Albury New South Wales Australia
Australian Opals Marc Zillmer Male 54 Salem Oregon United States

People: W-League
Some what surprisingly, the people who list a location are not from Canberra. A possible explanation for this is that Sydney bebo users are friends or family of players, who themselves may not be from Canberra.

Interest Name Gender Age City State Country
Canberra United Jack
Canberra United Missunderstood Female Sydney New South Wales Australia
Canberra United Faz Male 21 Sydney New South Wales Australia
Canberra United R.i.p steve irwin R.i.p Male

People: WNBL
Like the ANZ Championship, most fans are from areas near where the team is based. Fans also tend to be young and there is an even mix of male and female fans, which suggests that the WNBL could grow by working to attract that male audience in communities under served by NBL teams.

Interest Name Gender Age City State Country
Adelaide Lightning Olivia Smith Female 31 Adelaide South Australia Australia
Australian Institute of Sport Ben Hall Male 25 Adelaide South Australia Australia
Australian Institute of Sport Blair H Male 21 Bendigo Victoria Australia
Australian Institute of Sport Chris Roper Male 22 Sydney New South Wales Australia
Australian Institute of Sport Daniel Walker
Australian Institute of Sport Lauren Jackson Female 28 Albury New South Wales Australia
Australian Institute of Sport Lieke Schaap Female 18
Australian Institute of Sport Rayno Ellis
Australian Institute of Sport Sam Pickett Male 25 Noosa Queensland Australia
Bendigo Spirit Lisa Clark
Canberra Capitals Lauren Jackson Female 28 Albury New South Wales Australia
Dandenong Jayco Rangers (Dandenong Rangers) J-E-S-S
Dandenong Jayco Rangers (Dandenong Rangers) Vanessa Lacey
Logan Thunder Emmyy
Logan Thunder Laura Mc Dermott Female 22 Lismore New South Wales Australia
Logan Thunder Leisa C
Logan Thunder Logan Thunder – Mens DLeague Male
Logan Thunder Loganthunderisda Male Logan Victoria Australia
Logan Thunder Patty
Logan Thunder Scotty Male Logan Victoria Australia
Perth Lynx Liam Dunn Kellock Male Perth Western Australia Australia
Perth Lynx Tash Nichols Female 18 Perth Western Australia Australia
Sydney Uni Flames Vlad Alava Male
Townsville Fire Rebecca Female 20 Townsville Queensland Australia
Townsville Fire Reece Dowleans Male 21 Townsville Queensland Australia

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