What #afl related hashtags get the most RT @ ReTweets?

Laura — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 08:07:23 +0000

While on vacation, a friend of mine recommended I read Want to be Retweeted? Add Hashtags to Your Tweets! The article is rather interesting and looks at the #hashtags that led to the most ReTweets.

I have a collection of AFL related tweets that I update semi-regularly. More often than not, I use these for geographic related analysis. My AFL tweet collection has a series of issues though that make me hesitant to always draw definitive conclusions from it. These issues include:

Incomplete tweet set for keywords: I only get what is available from Searchtastic.
Incomplete tweet set based on keyword limitations: Even supposing I could get all the tweets related to a keyword, I can’t find every reference to the AFL as there are too many possible words that could reference the AFL and its clubs.
Incomplete tweet set because of time: Some keywords were searched for earlier and some later. Not all keywords were looked at over the same period.
Irrelevant tweets: Keywords like #gosaints may refer to the St. Kilda Saints or the New Orleans Saints. AFL may refer to the AFL-CIO, a union in the United States. Unless every tweet is examined, irrelevant tweets will remain in the data set.

These are major obstacles to doing any sort of content analysis for Twitter when specific subgroups are looked at. Many of these issues are ones that other researchers are likely to have too: You can’t get the complete data set, will include garbage data and may not be entirely timely.

That said, despite these limitations, I still wanted to know what are the most popular #hashtags for AFL related tweets and what type of hashtags are likely to be ReTweeted.

To get my dataset of Tweets, first I went to Searchtastic, ran a series of searches over the course of 6 weeks, and exported those results to Excel. I noted the keyword I searched for and the team that keyword is related to. The keyword searches that were run on Searchtastic during this period included: #afl, #aflbluestigers, #aflcatslions, #afldemonsswans, #afldogscats, #afldogsfreo, #afldogspower, #afleaglesblues, #aflfooty, #aflhawksdemons, #aflkangasbombers, #aflkangasfreo, #AFLPAQUIZ, #aflpiestigers, #aflpowercrows, #aflpowereagles, #aflsaintshawks, #aflswanshawks , #brisbanelions, #dreamteam, #footy, #fremantle, #freo, #freo AFL, #goblues, #gobombers, #Gocats, #gocrows, #gopies, #gosaints, #goswans, #NMFC, #northmelbourne, #sackermanis, #supercoach, #sydneyswans, #teamgws, #thekennel, #wafl, #westcoast afl, ackermanis sacked, ACT4GWS, Adelaide Crows, Adelaide_FC, afl Bombers, AFL GWS, AFL Magpies, afl pies, AFL Tony Lockett, Aker Bulldogs, Akermanis, akermanis dogs, akermanis gillard, Australian rules, blues afl, Brad Johnson, Brad Johnson AFL, Brady Rawlings, brisbane afl, Brisbane Lions, Brownlow Medal, Cameron Mooney cats, Carlton Blues, Chris Judd Carlton, Collingwood, collingwood AFL, Collingwood Magpies, crows afl, Damien Hardwick, DemonsHQ, Dockers AFL, eagles afl, eagles perth, Eric Mackenzie , Essendon afl, Essendon Bombers, etihad kilda, folau afl, folau israel, Fremantle Dockers, fremantle ruckman, GCFC, geelong cats, Gold Coast Suns, harry_o, Hawthorn Hawks, HawthornFC, Jason Akermanis, Jeff Kennett, Judd Blues, kilda, kilda AFL, kilda riewoldt, lions afl, Mark Harvey, mcg kilda, Melbourne Demons, milburn cats, Nathan van Berlo Crows, North Melbourne Kangaroos, PAFC, Peter Szental, Port Adelaide Power, portadelaidefc, Richmond Football, Richmond Tigers, Rodney Eade dogs, roos afl, sackermanis, spoon eagles, spoon lions, spoon tigers, spoon wce, swans afl, swans footy, swans ruckman, Sydney Swans, tigers afl, Travis Johnstone, Trent Cotchin, WCE AFL, West Coast Eagles, and Western Bulldogs. These keywords represent all teams and often include multiple keywords for them.

The next step was to remove all duplicate tweets. As some tweets contain multiple keywords and some searches were run more than once over that 6-week time period, that possibility existed. To do this, three columns were copy and pasted to a new worksheet: Username, Tweet and In Reply To. On Excel, I did this using Filter -> Advanced Filter -> Unique records only. This process took the total tweets from 8,523 to 5,427.

The third step was to identify all the hash tags used in this data set. To do this, I copy and pasted all the tweets to Notepad. I ran a find and replace for [space]# and replaced with [tab]#. I copy and pasted these back, removed all cells that did not start with a #. After this was done, the data set was copy and pasted back to Notepad. Another find and replace was done, this time, [space] was replaced with [tab]. This was pasted back to excel and all cells that did not start with # were deleted. The completed list was 2,833 total hashtags used. Of these, 556 were unique. The following table counts their total usage:

Hashtag	Total times used
#afl	724
#gosaints	110
#gocats	84
#DreamTeam	79
#aflswanshawks	53
#aflpiestigers	51
#aflpowereagles	51
#afldogscats	47
#aflfooty	46
#aflsaintshawks	45
#footy	44
#aflhawksdemons	43
#aflbluestigers	41
#aflcatslions	41
#afleaglesblues	41
#AFLPAQUIZ	39
#aflkangasfreo	38
#brisbanelions	38
#aflkangasbombers	36
#GoSwans	35
#Goblues	34
#ausvotes	33
#gopies	31
#ff	28
#afldogsfreo	25
#Essendon	21
#GoBombers	20
#afldemonsswans	18
#Fremantle	17
#SuperCoach	17
#afllionscrows	16
#adelaide	15
#aflpowercrows	14
#news	13
#thekennel	12
#football	10
#Sackermanis	9
#11BOYS	8
#afllionssaints	8
#AUG21STCLUBVENUS	8
#Blues	8
#collingwood	8
#GUAPGANG	8
#Hawks	8
#HNG	8
#Lions	8
#Australia	7
#Dockers	7
#fb	7
#freo	7
#sports	7
#wce	7
#aker	6
#jobs	6
#lost	6
#NMFC	6
#ABC	5
#aflbluesdogs	5
#Chelsea	5
#Eng	5
#NorthMelbourne	5
#pafc	5
#wafl	5
#aflbombersblues	4
#aflfreoswans	4
#akermanis	4
#blog	4
#bombers	4
#Bulldogs	4
#DOPEVIDEOALERT!!	4
#fail	4
#GOPIES!	4
#gopies!!	4
#GOSAINTS!	4
#gws	4
#pies	4
#sport	4
#worldcup	4
#aflcatshawks	3
#aflcrowscats	3
#afleagleslions	3
#argyleman	3
#beer	3
#bj008	3
#Crows	3
#dogs	3
#dss10	3
#footyshow	3
#Freelance	3
#Gillard	3
#goldcoast	3
#Light	3
#Melbourne	3
#plymouth	3
#sagreat	3
#sydneyswans	3
#tcot	3
#travel	3
#wa	3
#WORDPRESS	3
#17Julay	2
#afl:	2
#AFLCIO	2
#aka	2
#akermanis,	2
#alp	2
#Apple	2
#AstonVilla	2
#BERBATOV	2
#brisbane	2
#Carlton	2
#CarltonFC	2
#CATS	2
#CFL	2
#Chargers	2
#Chile	2
#Cousins	2
#DREAMTEAM!!!	2
#DT	2
#Eagles	2
#economist	2
#FERGUSON	2
#FollowFriday	2
#footyfriday	2
#gno	2
#GOBLUES!	2
#goCats!	2
#GOCROWS	2
#gosaints.	2
#Hamburg	2
#Health	2
#Idontthinkso	2
#Illegal	2
#job	2
#kentucky	2
#lastfm	2
#lp’s	2
#magpies	2
#mofo	2
#Monday	2
#monkbeer	2
#NBA	2
#New	2
#Obesity	2
#online	2
#P2	2
#ROONEY	2
#Soccer	2
#Sportal	2
#suns	2
#Sydney	2
#TeamFollowBack	2
#Þ¹ Óù²_	2
#thefootyshow	2
#throughandthrough	2
#Tigers	2
#TT	2
#WhoDat	2
#	1
#011	1
#1	1
#1,	1
#15	1
#17	1
#2.	1
#2010	1
#3	1
#3DAL	1
#6	1
#6insolidaity	1
#7	1
#ABCnews24	1
#adelaide,	1
#adversity	1
#af…	1
#AFL!	1
#AFL,	1
#afl.	1
#Aflac	1
#aflbulldogscats	1
#aflcatspies	1
#aflcionow	1
#afldemonsbombers	1
#afldemonsswans.	1
#afldogscats101	1
#afldogskangas	1
#afldogspower	1
#afleaglesfreo	1
#AFLfootyshow	1
#aflhawksdogs	1
#aflordapele	1
#AFLPA	1
#AFLPAQUIZ.	1
#aflpiestigers.	1
#aflsaintshawks.	1
#afrodigital	1
#akergate.	1
#Akermanis.	1
#akermankiss	1
#Albania	1
#A-League	1
#alfsaintshawks	1
#AlfStewart	1
#allday	1
#AllieGentry	1
#annoyingquestion	1
#Argyle	1
#ArizonaFallLeague	1
#Art	1
#Astros	1
#AUG28THHIGHLANDPARK	1
#aussiemigration	1
#Autocar	1
#avidfan	1
#BagelTuesday	1
#bankshowdown	1
#Barcelona	1
#Basketball	1
#batman	1
#BBB	1
#BBB,	1
#bcfc	1
#BEATthebotssss	1
#beenthere	1
#Belgium	1
#BELIEVE	1
#BENNY	1
#betchaknowem	1
#beu	1
#BigFooty	1
#blessings	1
#bmb	1
#boomers	1
#Bordeaux	1
#boulen10?	1
#breakuplines	1
#Bremen	1
#Briggswentdownlike	1
#BrisbaneLions!	1
#BrisbaneLions.	1
#broncos	1
#brugerdisken	1
#Brumbies	1
#caa	1
#cannes	1
#Canterbury-Bankstown	1
#carnbombers	1
#Celtic	1
#CERN	1
#CERTIFIED	1
#championship	1
#Cheetahs	1
#chi	1
#cliffhanghaunters	1
#Climate	1
#CNNHeroes.	1
#cocaine	1
#Coffee	1
#Collingwood.	1
#Collingwood:	1
#collingwoodfc	1
#Colombia	1
#Conservation	1
#conservative.	1
#cop15	1
#Corvette	1
#cowboys	1
#coworking	1
#crazyideas	1
#cubs	1
#deals	1
#deetrain!)	1
#defense	1
#Demetriou	1
#dicaduca	1
#diet	1
#doublestandard	1
#draft	1
#draw365	1
#DREAMTEAM-	1
#DREAMTEAM!	1
#DREAMTEAM!!!!!	1
#DREAMTEAM!!!!!!!	1
#DREAMTEAM!!!!!!!!!	1
#DREAMTEAM!GET	1
#dreamteam(u	1
#DreamTeam,	1
#dreamteam..like	1
#dreamteam2010	1
#dreamteam2010(Ur	1
#drmtm	1
#druggies	1
#Duck	1
#duh	1
#duisburg	1
#dumb	1
#Eagles.	1
#ecommerce	1
#ecommretail	1
#EdeActueel	1
#efficiënt	1
#elmundial	1
#elvisfest	1
#ems	1
#emt	1
#England	1
#epic	1
#EquipedelaRêve	1
#ESPN3:	1
#everyday	1
#everyoneshappy	1
#excitedtweet	1
#faic	1
#fanniemae	1
#fascinating	1
#fat	1
#FCTwente	1
#FcukFranklin	1
#fd10p2m	1
#Fev	1
#FFGLBS	1
#FIFA	1
#fireupdons	1
#fitness	1
#flag	1
#flagship	1
#flash	1
#Flight	1
#flotilla	1
#FLYSTLYE	1
#FollowNow	1
#footyclassified	1
#footyOne	1
#footyshow.	1
#footyteammovies	1
#forçafluminense	1
#FoxFooty	1
#Foxtel	1
#free	1
#Freelancer	1
#freeweezy	1
#freo.	1
#freshen	1
#FridayFwit.	1
#fromtheouter	1
#Fuckem %- %(	1
#fuckyeah	1
#Gabon	1
#gallery:	1
#game	1
#Gaza	1
#GCFC	1
#Geelong	1
#GeelongCats	1
#GER,	1
#GERONIMO	1
#GGMU	1
#GOAT	1
#GoBears	1
#goBears!	1
#GOBLUES.	1
#GOCHELSEA	1
#GOGIANTS	1
#gopies!!!	1
#GoSaints!!	1
#gosaintsFC	1
#gostkilda	1
#GoSwans!	1
#GoSwans!!!	1
#gothepies	1
#green,	1
#GroenWerkt	1
#GUCCI	1
#guitar	1
#Haiku	1
#haiti:	1
#HamOnt	1
#handig	1
#Hanley.	1
#HardMan	1
#harry-o	1
#hawks#Hawthorn#AFL	1
#Hawthorn	1
#hcr,	1
#healthybusiness,	1
#healthyliving	1
#hiring	1
#History	1
#hnw	1
#Hockey	1
#HOLIDAY	1
#hollin	1
#homepark	1
#hotels	1
#HTC	1
#humor	1
#iConfess	1
#i’dliketoseethat!	1
#ihatecollingwood	1
#ihatequotes	1
#ihaveadream	1
#IloveagoodConspiracryTheory	1
#imabitscared	1
#immaturelittleboy	1
#in	1
#inception,	1
#IndianapolisColts	1
#Insiders:	1

The next step was to count the total @ replies and hashtag uses. To do this, all the unique tweets were copied to a new worksheet. A filter was created to list all tweets that did not include an @ sign. These tweets were deleted. This brought the total tweets from 5,427 to 1,844. The next step was to create a filter to show all tweets that did not include a #. These tweets were then deleted. This brought the total Tweets down to 832. The next step was to look remove tweets that did not contain “RT @”, “RT:@”, “retweeting @”, “retweet @”, “via @”, “thx @”, “HT @”, or “r @”. This leaves 458 tweets that are retweets that contain hash tags.

The same process was conducted to count the hash tags that was used for all hash tags and RT @. The following list was created of people who were the most ReTweeted (or mentioned in the ReTweeted tweet) where the tweets contained #hashtags and the #hashtag totals for ReTweets. These were then totaled and counted, resulting in the following table:

Hashtag	Count	ReTweeted	Count
#GOSAINTS	37	@afl	44
#DreamTeam	36	@Carlton_FC	24
#GoCats	26	@stkildafc	23
#AFL	25	@hawthornfc	16
#afleaglesblues	21	@Essendon_FC	15
#pafc	20	@Geelong_FC	12
#aflkangasbombers	19	@sydneyswans	12
#aflpiestigers	18	@iamdiddy	10
#aflsaintshawks	18	@Richmond_FC	9
#aflswanshawks	17	@AFLPA	8
#ausvotes	12	@Adelaide_FC	7
#aflpowereagles	10	@JuliaGillard	7
#AflKANGASfreo	9	@northkangaroos	7
#brisbanelions	9	@_the_kennel_	6
#NMFC	8	@bigmacvikings	6
#sackermanis	8	@Collingwood_FC	6
#thekennel	8	@dizzyyet	6
#Adelaide	7	@redcafesd	6
#aflcatslions	7	@seanpaull	6
#afllionssaints	7	@aflcio	5
#aflhawksdemons	6	@Gottrocks	5
#AFLPAQUIZ	6	@myfabolouslife	5
#aflpowercrows	6	@PAFC	5
#11BOYS	5	@triplemfooty	5
#GoBombers	5	@AFLStatsGuys	4
#GoPies	5	@AveStarLJ	4
#P2	5	@Bickys	4
#tcot	5	@Bigdroppunt	4
#travel	5	@Blonde_Cheeks	4
#afldemonsswans	4	@CatsInsider	4
#fremantle	4	@crowdiegal	4
#gopies!!	4	@DemonsHQ	4
#goswans	4	@DjPaniic	4
#lions	4	@Fremantle_FC	4
#soccer	4	@jletti	4
#tags:	4	@JOEYCRACKTS	4
#throughandthrough	4	@SENNews	4
#afldogsfreo	3	@tabloidterror	4
#aker	3	@tedwards2	4
#akermanis	3	@THEjennykim	4
#AUG21STCLUBVENUS	3	@themonkbeer	4
#beer	3	@tjrharley	4
#ecfc	3	@aburt	3
#ENG	3	@charlenemay	3
#FF	3	@drwarwick	3
#GUAPGANG	3	@Footyfree	3
#HNG	3	@fromtheouter	3
#monkbeer	3	@garethdn	3
#sewelliscool	3	@mydogateart	3
#SydneySwans	3	@NikkiRoks	3
#WhoDat	3	@pluke17	3
#worldcup	3	@rachii_10	3
#aflbluestigers	2	@rickyrozay	3
#afleagleslions	2	@RTTF_AU	3
#aflfooty	2	@StadiumMustard	3
#aka	2	@TLW3	3
#argyleman	2	@trmash	3
#bj008	2	@afletch5	2
#bulldogs	2	@AFLNewsWire	2
#dogs	2	@AlexBrink10	2
#DOPEVIDEOALERT!!	2	@alexhart7	2
#dreamteam2010	2	@andrewbolt	2
#footy	2	@angiemartinez	2
#footyfriday	2	@annielin	2
#footyshow	2	@BradJohnson6	2
#Fuckem %- %(	2	@BrigandLehmo	2
#Gillard	2	@brotheramos	2
#GoBears	2	@CalAthletics	2
#Goblues	2	@catsman09	2
#Illegal	2	@ChristophHewett	2
#lp	2	@DaRealRoot	2
#nowplaying	2	@Diamonds_Pearlz	2
#plymouth	2	@DreamTeamatl_TK	2
#putthatinyourpipeandsmokeit	2	@DT_13	2
#ROCGiRLs	2	@EdMorrissey	2
#sagreat	2	@emmat18	2
#supercoach	2	@EssendonBomber	2
#thefootyshow	2	@FakeWoosha	2
#TwoDat	2	@globoesportecom	2
#wce	2	@HaroldKuepers.	2
#1,	1	@hawthornfc15	2
#accommodation	1	@iAmRozayyy	2
#aflak	1	@j_carroll7	2
#aflcrowscats	1	@JAE_MILLZ	2
#afldogscats	1	@jasminewright96	2
#aflfreoswans	1	@jazzpafc	2
#AFLPA	1	@jeeziiroqk	2
#alp	1	@jimmywa11	2
#Argyle	1	@jmf27614	2
#Art	1	@jonboy79	2
#bankshowdown	1	@jonpierk	2
#BELIEVE	1	@jrwilliams22	2
#BENNY	1	@JsMiLeZ10	2
#BERBATOV	1	@kaatieee27	2
#BigFooty	1	@keithpitty	2
#BLOG	1	@Ladder_)	2
#boomers	1	@LEGITBOSS	2
#Briggswentdownlike	1	@letoyaluckett	2
#Celtic	1	@Lizziemcbizzie	2
#CERTIFIED	1	@M3lizza	2
#CFL	1	@milo317	2
#Chile	1	@MMMGUNNA	2
#Collingwood.	1	@MRS_MERCHANT	2
#CRS	1	@mstiffington	2
#cubs	1	@NeL_DTF	2
#deetrain!	1	@nick_wade	2
#draw365	1	@NICKIMINAJ	2
#DT	1	@NiKKi_E13	2
#Essendon	1	@noisyinstrument	2
#FERGUSON	1	@plymouthcc	2
#Flecoat	1	@ranyunfei	2
#Flight	1	@reggie_bush	2
#FLYSTLYE	1	@ruanji	2
#FollowNow	1	@SarahStanley	2
#Football	1	@SharinaBurns	2
#GERONIMO	1	@shelleyjames	2
#GGMU	1	@ShunnyBun	2
#glennbeck	1	@StadiumHero	2
#GOGIANTS	1	@SuadeMusic	2
#gop	1	@TalentedInk	2
#GoPies!	1	@TalkingCarlton	2
#GoSaints!!!!	1	@tech45cast	2
#gosaintsFC	1	@tgrant20	2
#gostkilda	1	@the_tony	2
#green,	1	@TheCONDO	2
#GUCCI	1	@therealsmoir	2
#haiti:	1	@TheRealYungBerg	2
#Hawks	1	@TheVoyuer	2
#healthybusiness	1	@thisgirlrox	2
#healthyliving	1	@thisischile	2
#hiring	1	@thisisScoMan	2
#HOLIDAY	1	@timvl	2
#HTC	1	@tip66	2
#ihaveadream	1	@tkpleslie	2
#in	1	@TrendsMelbourne	2
#Inter	1	@UnitedWayTC	2

Based on this sample, (because the whole of the population of AFL tweets is not available and cannot the total cannot be counted to determine the representative value of the sample) the most RTed #hashtag in a Tweet related to the AFL is #gosaints. #dreamteam comes in second. #gocats comes in third. #afl comes in fourth.

The #gosaints tag is popular and the team’s official account has encouraged its use. More recently, New Orleans Saints fans have used it as the NFL pre-season has started. #dreamteam is one of the two most popular AFL fantasy leagues and those fantasy leagues are big into fostering community. Beyond these top four, the most popular tags tend to involve specific match ups. If all tags related to match ups had been included around the time that the games took place, it is highly possible more would be on that list.

In terms of who gets RTed and mentioned in ReTweets, official accounts dominate: The AFL, Carlton, St. Kilda, Hawthorn, the Bombers, Geelong and the Swans. The first non-team account to appear is P. Diddy and he is followed by a number of influential Australian social media people. The next person / non-official AFL account to appear is Julia Gillard. AFL players do not appear to be ReTweeted en masse when compared to their club sides. This isn’t to say that people don’t actively read and follow them. If looking at ReTweets without #hashtags, @harry_o would appear on top with 50 mentions. It is probable that clubs are using #hashtags and players are not; there could be a digital cultural awareness divide between the two.

A copy of the data and some of my step by step process making it workable can be found at RTAFL.xls. I find the whole thing really interesting. If anyone has any tools to make dataming easier or has a suggestion for additional research in this area, let me know as I’d love to hear it.

Fremantle Dockers on Yahoo!Groups

Laura — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:35:44 +0000

This post is part of a series looking at the AFL fandom on Yahoo!Groups. It focuses on providing general historical information about these groups: When they were founded and activity levels. For a critique of the problems on Yahoo!Groups in getting demographic information, read Sydney Swans on Yahoo!Groups and The AFL on Yahoo!Groups.

This post is about the Yahoo!Group’s Freemantle Dockers community.The Fremantle Dockers directory on Yahoo!Groups has five mailing lists. Of these, four are actually about the AFL team and one is generally dedicated to the AFL. The four lists are docker_1995, fremantledockersinternetclub, Fremantle_Dockers, and grazzasfremantledockersclub. The first was created in February 2008 and as three members. There has been no legitimate content posted to it. The second two were both founded in 2000. fremantledockersinternetclub has 17 members and legitimate content appears to have ended after May 2006. Fremantle_Dockers has 66 members. Legitimate content ended after January 2005. grazzasfremantledockersclub was founded in December 1999 and has 23 members. Legitimate content ended after April 2002.

I added real posting from the lists together and created the following chart:

This community just is not as active as the Sydney Swans or Western Bulldogs. The peak for the Bulldogs was at about 24 and the peak for the Swans was 49. What is interesting is that the peaks differ, with a 2003 peak for the Dockers compared to a 2001 and 2008 peak for the Bulldogs and a 2005 and 2006 peak for the Swans. According to Wikipedia, 2003 was a great year for the Dockers as they finished 5th and made it to the finals. While they finished 3rd and made it to the finals in 2006, there was no similar bump. For this team, there have to be other factors at play to explain the overall low posting volume and the total posting drop off since late 2006.

Ozzie Sport » Fremantle Dockers

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