Archive for category 43things

43 Things and Australian women’s sport

Posted by Laura on Friday, 26 November, 2010

43 things is a goal setting community found at www.43things.com/.  Compared to professional sports for men, the women related goals are less likely to exist and less likely to involve a component that expresses fandom such as a desire to buy a shirt or attend a championship match.  This presents two issues.  First, the number of goals related to women’s sport is less than men’s: There is clearly a gap in interest levels between men and men’s sport that needs to be addressed.  Beyond that, it highlights the idea that women’s sport does not have the built in spectatorship that men’s sport has and people do not identify as clearly as fans of these teams.

The table below begins to give an idea as to the amount of interest in randomly selected women’s clubs, leagues and athletes on 43things over time.  As you can see, there isn’t. For comparisons sake, the Fremantle Dockers have 5 goals, the Collingwood Magpies have 6, Hawthorn Hawks have 4 and the Melbourne Storm have 2.

It appears, based on the audience using the site, that growing the women’s sport related goals in an organic manner, done with out deliberation on the part of various stakeholders, appears unlikely.  There is barely an audience for men and the Australian population using the site is much smaller than on other networks.

League Team Keyword Results Relevant goals Relevant goals + people Date checked
ANZ Championship West Coast Fever West Coast Fever 3019 0 0 16-Aug-10
ANZ Championship West Coast Fever West Coast Fever 0 0 0 19-Nov-10
ANZ Championship West Coast Fever West Coast Fever 3122 0 0 19-Nov-10
ANZ Championship West Coast Fever West Coast Fever 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
ANZ Championship West Coast Fever West Coast Fever 3135 0 0 26-Nov-10
Hockey Australia Hockeyroos Hockeyroos 0 0 0 24-Nov-10
Hockey Australia Hockeyroos Hockeyroos 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
Swimming Australia Stephanie Rice Stephanie Rice 0 0 0 19-Nov-10
Swimming Australia Stephanie Rice Stephanie Rice 591 0 0 19-Nov-10
Swimming Australia Stephanie Rice Stephanie Rice 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
Swimming Australia Stephanie Rice Stephanie Rice 592 0 0 26-Nov-10
W-League Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory 0 0 0 1-Jul-10
W-League Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
W-League W-League W-League 0 0 0 1-Jul-10
W-League W-League W-League 1 0 0 26-Nov-10
WNBL Perth Lynx Perth Lynx 6 0 0 16-Aug-10
WNBL Perth Lynx Perth Lynx 113 0 0 26-Nov-10
WNBL West Coast Waves West Coast Waves 3104 0 0 16-Aug-10
WNBL West Coast Waves West Coast Waves 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
WNBL West Coast Waves West Coast Waves 3227 0 0 26-Nov-10
WNCL Western Fury Western Fury 448 0 0 16-Aug-10
WNCL Western Fury Western Fury 0 0 0 26-Nov-10
WNCL Western Fury Western Fury 471 0 0 26-Nov-10

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Appendix A: Data Gathering Site Specific Methodologies (draft 1)

Posted by Laura on Wednesday, 24 November, 2010

And just to mix it up today and support the idea that I actually do write things, this would be a draft of some methodologies that will be headed into my appendix. A lot of it feels really simple, already gets stated inside existing chapters as I use the data and would eat up word count in my methodology in a really unhealthy way. (I’ve got about 20 of these methodologies to do. I should really do a summary about each particular site I’m using too. We’ll see. This section first.)


Appendix A
Data Gathering Site Specific Methodologies

43 Things
User information
To get user information from 43 Things, the first step was to identify goals that related to an Australian or New Zealand based sport club.  Searching using various keywords, reading the goals that related to the keywords and determining if they related to the search accomplished this.  Once a goal was identified and people were identified as having completed the goal or intending to complete the goal, the goal was recorded on a row in a 43 Things specific spreadsheet.  In a separate column, the team and league to which the goal related to were also recorded.  After this was completed, the user pages for people with that goal were visited.  Their username, city, state, country, birthday, website, and date joined were all recorded.  The last notation to the row was to include the date that this information was gathered.
During the time that this data was gathered, 43 Things changed the information that was available on the profiles.  This was done sometime between early June 2010 and  early November 2010.  Subsequently information such as city, state, country, birthday, website were not available on user profiles.  Only data gathered prior to this time exists except in cases where the data was checked at a later date and the user’s information had previously been recorded.

Total user information
Attempts were made to benchmark the level of interest in a team by recording the number of relevant search results on 43 things.  This was done by documenting the league and team that were being searched for in a row.  After that, the keyword used for the search was recorded in the same row.  The search was then completed and the total results were recorded.  A textual analysis of the search results was conducted and the total number of relevant results was recorded.  Of those relevant results, the total number of people working to accomplish them was then recorded.  Finally, the date the search was conducted was recorded.

Alexa
Site rankings
A list of websites related to Australian and New Zealand sport was created.  This was recorded on a spreadsheet, with columns that listed the league and team that the domain featured.  For every domain on the list, the page about the domain on Alexa was checked.  The Alexa page URL for the domain was also recorded on the relevant row.  When visiting the page, the world rank was recorded.  If an Australian rank was also available, it was recorded in a separate Australian specific column.  Next, the date that this information was gathered was recorded.  After that, any notes the author had regarding the site were recorded.  This was mostly to identify the type of domain or if it ranked in a country outside Australia.  Lastly, in some cases, the paragraph of information provided by Alexa regarding the site’s traffic and demographics was recorded.

Bebo
User  information
Profile information from bebo users was gathered by running a search related to a specific team or league.  The league and team that the search was related to was documented.  Once this was done, the people search results were copy and pasted to Notepad.  The search results were then formatted for pasting to the bebo user spreadsheet. Once copy and pasted, the author attempted to convert user-inputted locations into real locations of city, state, country.  The location field results were then found in columns for city, state, country instead of a location column.  The columns that existed then were league, team, name, gender, age, city, state, and country.  A final column was added that recorded the date this data was gathered.

Videos, Groups, Band information
There are three different search tabs on bebo beyond people that have information about the community size and audience for Australian and New Zealand sport.  They are Video, Groups and Bands.  Searched related to a specific team, player or league were run.  The relationship between the searches and the league and club were recorded.  The search results were then copy and pasted to Notepad where the results were formatted so they could be pasted on to a separate bebo related spreadsheet.  Once this was done, the following headers where information could be found included type, total (fans/viewers/members), loves, profile views, group created, genre, city, state, country, uploaded, uploader, and description.   The city, state and country information was documented using the same methodology as the bebo profile information.  Finally, a column was added that included the data that this data was gathered on.

Total search results
Total search results data came by recording the search term used, and recording the team and league that connect to that search term.  Once that was done, the total results were recorded for People, Video, Music, Groups, Apps and Skins. The date the search was conducted was then recorded.  Finally, any notes regarding the search or its results were recorded.
When recording the results, in almost all cases, the total results were included.  In a few select cases, generally when the results were 20 or less, the total number of results deemed relevant were recorded.  This was deemed important for smaller sport fan communities where one or two videos or groups may represent the whole community.  An example search where this was done involved a search for “Giants Football Club” because the results picked up rugby league teams and the New York Giants.

BlackPlanet
User information
User information was gathered once a search had been conducted and resulted in a user appearing.  If a user appeared for that search, the league and team related to that search were recorded.  The user name was then recorded.  The user page was then opened and the following data was collected: Country, gender and age. Lastly, the date this information was gathered was documented.

Total user information
To gather total user information, a search phrase was thought of and recorded.  In separate columns, the league and team the search related to were recorded.  The profile search was then conducted and the total number of results were recorded.  Finally, the date the search was conducted on was recorded.

Blogger
User information
User information was gathered once a search had been conducted and resulted in a user appearing.  If a user appeared for that search, the league and team related to that search were recorded.  The user name was then recorded.  The user page was then opened and the following data was collected: Age, Gender, Astrological sign, City, State, Country. Lastly, the date this information was gathered was documented.

Total user information
To gather total user information, a search phrase was thought of and recorded.  In separate columns, the league and team the search related to were recorded.  The profile search was then conducted and the total number of results were recorded.  Finally, the date the search was conducted on was recorded.

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Online Activity in the Wake of the Melbourne Storm Controversy Revisited (incomplete)

Posted by Laura on Monday, 1 November, 2010

This isn’t actually fully revisited. I started writing this about a week ago and then have had extremely limited internet access. Given that, I thought I would post what I have so far and finish the rest later.


Online Activity in the Wake of the  Melbourne Storm Controversy Revisited (incomplete)

On April 22, 2010, the news of salary cap violations on the part of the Melbourne Storm broke online in such publications as the Fox Sports, on television including ABC news and on multiple social networks including Facebook and Twitter. By April 23, the news was available in various print publications including The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald. During the news coverage, NRL fans learned that the team had been fined $1.8 million, stripped of two premiereships and were not eligible to earn points towards 2010’s premiership. (“Melbourne storm stripped,” 2010) The team was being punished for salary cap violations over the past five years, where the total cap violation in that period was $1.7 million with $400,000 of that total cap violation occurring in 2009. (“Melbourne storm stripped,” 2010)

The consensus at the time in the media was that this would hurt the team in terms of maintaining a fan base. In the three-week period after the news broke, this did not appear to be the case: The team maintained or grew its online fan community. In addition, there was more fan interactions in the Melbourne Storm fan community than there had been prior to the controversy. This defied conventional wisdom. The numbers deserve a followup to determine if the Melbourne Storm managed to capture short-term interest and translate it into long-term, season long, interest in the club.

This article will revisit numbers from May to determine how successful the club was. Specifically, interest patterns as expressed on networks like 43things, bebo, Facebook, LiveJournal and its clones, Twitter, Wikia, Wikiedia, Yahoo!Groups and YouTube. The article will prove that as the season progressed, interest in the Melbourne Storm declined relative to other teams in the National Rugby League.


43things

In the May analysis, a goal setting site called 43things was looked at. The site has a small group of Australians on it who have set professional sport related goals.

On April 1, 2010, the site was searched for any goals that connected to the Melbourne Storm. Only one goal related to the Melbourne Storm was found. It is “Go to a Melbourne Storm Game.” (1) Two people, erynne and mmcpharlane, had listed this as a goal they were working towards completing. When checked again on May 10 and October 24, no one had added any additional goals related to the Melbourne Storm. The two individuals who had listed “Go to a Melbourne Storm Game” remained the same.


Mailing lists

During much of the 1990s, mailing lists were one of the most popular tools for fans to use in order to communicate with each other. The creation of mailing lists became much easier when sites like egroups, coollists, topica, Yahoo!Groups and Google groups were created. In some corners of Australian sport fandom, mailing lists have played an important role in helping fans support their interest in clubs.

At one point, there was a semi-active community for the Melbourne Storm community on Yahoo!Groups. (2) When Melbourne Storm Yahoo!Groups were looked at in May, the controversy had no effect on the groups: No new content was posted on these lists. Only one (3) had new content posted between May and October; this new content was a generic newsletter that is sent out to several other NRL related lists and was not published specifically for this list. (4) There is no long tail effect of the club’s fan community on Yahoo!Groups as the community has long since moved on and the controversy didn’t activate a community that has largely been inactive since 2001.

YouTube

YouTube is the largest video site online. It is also the second biggest search engine online. (Hill, 2008) It is a popular site for sport fans; several teams around the world for different sports capitalize on this by having their own official accounts including the Chicago Red Stars (5), Real Madrid (6), and Perth Glory (7). Beyond the presence of official team accounts, fans upload many videos. Fan videos can be music videos, news clips, and video blogs. The frequency of uploads is one way to determine interest in a club.

When the original analysis was completed in May, it did not include YouTube data. Data was only gathered in June and October, several months after the controversy went down. In addition, the total upload data gathered only included a few teams: Brisbane Broncos, Canberra Raiders, Gold Coast Titans, Melbourne Storm, Parramatta Eels, and Wests Tigers. Despite the lack of pre-controversy data, interesting post controversy numbers were discovered.

Table 1
YouTube Video Search Results by Date and Keyword
Team Keyword 16-Jun-10 21-Jun-10 24-Oct-10 Difference: 16-Jun to 24-Oct Difference: 21-Jun to 24-Oct
Brisbane Broncos “Brisbane Broncos” 509

520

525 16 5
Melbourne Storm “Melbourne Storm” 910 925 889 -21 -36

Parramatta Eels

“Parramatta Eels” 479 485 527 48 42
Parramatta Eels “Timana Tahu” 36 36

31

-5 -5
Wests Tigers “Wests Tigers” 390 404 464 74 60
Canberra Raiders

“Canberra Raiders”

274 403 129
Gold Coast Titans “Gold Coast Titans” 260 302 42
Brisbane Broncos “Darren Lockyer” 198 187 187 -11

When compared to all other teams, the Melbourne Storm were the only team where the number of videos mentioning them decreased. The two players looked at both faced losses in the total number of videos that mentioned them. Like the Storm, both of these players were involved in a major controversy during the season.

There are likely three reasons that could be attributed to the decline in videos. The first is that YouTube removed the videos because of copyright issues. This is plausible and if it is the case, it may not be the fault of the Storm as many of the copyright disputes on YouTube involve the background music. Given the lack of discussion in the NRL community about YouTube crackdowns in terms of NRL content or music, this reason just seems unlikely. The second reason is the creators may have deleted their content and their videos. This feels more plausible. Many people delete their online content when they are job hunting, because they are embarrassed by it or because of privacy concerns. The third reason is that the uploader no longer likes the team: They do not want to be associated with them or embarrassed by their previous support of them. This reason seems the most plausible. In the context of the Melbourne Storm, it fits given the patterns with the individual rugby league players who endured major controversies. In actuality, the reduction in videos is probably a combination of the second and third reasons. If true, it suggests that controversies lead to a reduction in user-uploaded content and the deletion of existing material: The YouTube audience for the team contracts.

References

Hill, J. (2008, October 16). YouTube surpasses Yahoo as world’s #2 search engine. TG Daily. Retrieved October 24, 2010, from http://www.tgdaily.com/trendwatch-features/39777-youtube-surpasses-yahoo-as-world%E2%80%99s-2-search-engine

Melbourne storm stripped of two premierships for salary cap breach. (2010, April 22). Fox Sports, Retrieved from http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27022196-5018866,00.html

Footnotes

1. The page for the goal can be found at http://www.43things.com/things/view/2535563/go-to-a-melbourne-storm-game .
2.Yahoo!Groups is the most popular mailing list host.  Archives are also available for these lists.
The list was http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/MelbourneStorm .
3.While these e-mails were generic to the National Rugby League and might be considered spam if they were posted on a list with a more active administrator, a few did mention the Melbourne Storm.  A few even referenced the controversy.  Because of the nature of the posts, these few posts were not counted.
4.The Chicago Red Stars official YouTube can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/ChicagoRedStars .
5.Real Madrid’s official YouTube account can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/realmadridcf .
6.Perth Glory’s official YouTube account can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/PerthGloryTV .

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Which AFL team do Canberrans support in the Grand Final?

Posted by Laura on Wednesday, 15 September, 2010

Canberra has traditionally been a place that people aren’t from.  Rather, it is a place that people have traditionally moved to.  When they move, they take their sporting loyalties with them.  For that reason, there is a conflicting mess of sport loyalties in the city.  If you went to see the Sydney Swans play the Western Bulldogs at Manuka Oval this year, you could clearly see these different loyalties on display as it pertains to the AFL.  On the whole, I’ve generally found Canberrans to be pretty good with these loyalties: You can safely wear your team’s kit with out fear that some stranger is going to take the piss out of you.

The Grand Final is soon approaching.  Given the different sporting loyalties, it is interesting to see which team people in Canberra are barracking for.  Is one team more popular than another?  Do Canberran loyalties mirror national loyalties?

One way of measuring loyalty and team identification is to count how many people follow a team on Twitter.  All followers combined, Collingwood 7,381 followers, St. Kilda has 4,492 followers, Geelong has 2,153 and the Western Bulldogs have 1,554.  When Twitter followers for each team are filtered by location using time zones and user listed location, you can get an idea as to how many Canberrans are followers of the various teams playing in the Grand Finals:

Suburb Collingwood Magpies Geelong Cats St Kilda Saints Western Bulldogs
Barton 0 0 1 0
Canberra 62 10 28 17
Canberra International Airport 0 1 0 0
Capital Hill 1 0 0 0
City 0 0 0 1
Dickson 0 0 1 0
Gordon 0 1 0 0
Theodore 1 0 0 0
Total 64 12 30 18

It isn’t that big of a surprise that Collingwood is number one. Roy Morgan Research had them as the most popular Melbourne based team in 2009.  Beyond that, Canberrans on Twitter buck the popularity trend.  Roy Morgan has Geelong at number 2.  On Twitter, Canberrans are the least likely to follow Geelong.  Roy Morgan had the Western Bulldogs last.   Canberrans had them at third.  Overall, when compared to total number of followers for a team, Canberrans don’t  always follow the national patterns.  Again, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs are the ones that don’t match: More people follow Geelong on Twitter but more Canberrans on Twitter follow the Western Bulldogs.  It looks like Canberrans, who don’t have their own AFL team, follow a different drummer than the one that beats on a national level.

Another way to measure team loyalty and team identification in Canberra is to use Facebook.  Facebook says that there are 198,500 users who live in the ACT and 175,900 people who live within 50 miles of Canberra.  What Grand Finals teams do Canberrans like?

Area Collingwood Magpies Geelong Cats St Kilda Saints Western Bulldogs
Canberra – Within 50 miles 4,540 760 1,100 280
Australian Capital Territory 5,080 1,040 1,240 300

Well, not the Western Bulldogs, that’s for sure.  Canberran fans on Facebook much more clearly follow the national patterns as established by Roy Morgan.

Other social networks exist and Canberran sport fans are present on them.  One such network is LiveJournal (and its clones).  There are a number of fans on it who list their teams as an interest on their profile:   4 for Collingwood,  22 for Geelong,  16 for St. Kilda and 23  for the Western Bulldogs.  When broken down by city and state, there are two fans from the ACT who list Geelong as an interest and one fan who lists the Saints as an interest.  This pattern for the ACT does not mirror the pattern for the whole of LiveJournal.  It also doesn’t follow the pattern for team fandom size as identified by Roy Morgan Research.

Over on 43 things, there is one Canberran who has a goal related to an AFL team.  It just isn’t a team in the finals.  (The Canberran has a goal of buying a Sydney Swans jumper.)  On bebo, there are 18 people identified as being from the ACT who list an AFL team as an interest, four of which list a Grand Finals team as an interest.  Two support Collingwood, one supports Geelong and one supports St. Kilda.  This pattern mirrors the national one as established by Roy Morgan Research.  On Blogger, there are four people from the ACT who list an AFL team as an interest.  Of these four, only one lists a finals bound team: Geelong.

What does tell us?  Canberran AFL fans are most likely to be found on Facebook.  Their support of their clubs is similar to the national club support though there are differences.    Different social networks attract Canberrans fans of different teams.  It shouldn’t be that hard to find a like minded fan who will support your team if you’re here for the game.  The easiest time of doing that will probably be for Collingwood Supporters but Bulldog fans shouldn’t be that worried either.  Just go on Twitter Doggies fans and reach out to your fellow Canberrans.

Most of the raw data referenced in this post can be found at csv.ozziesport.com/.

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Perth sport fandom size

Posted by Laura on Monday, 16 August, 2010

I feel guilty as I’m kind of posting as I do with out any particular pattern. Anyway, I looked at Google.com.au and friendster (both of which have a load of garbage unrelated results) and recorded the totals for number of results for each team. I also did that bebo, care2 and blogger. (I also did ecademy and blackplanet but results were 0 the whole way through.) I’ll see if I feel like exploring and recording the size of the Perth sport fandom some more. The following table includes the results so far. If you have methodology questions, let me know.

43things.com Bebo – Groups Bebo – People Bebo – Videos Blogger Care2 – Blogs Care2 – Petitions Friendster – Groups Google Total Minus F & G Total
AFL West Coast Eagles 3 44 300 120 24 8 2 1006 273,000 501 274507
A-League Perth Glory FC 0 19 28 79 5 8 0 1072 325,000 139 326211
AFL Fremantle Dockers 5 17 85 18 10 1 0 12 116,000 136 116148
Super 14 Western Force 0 17 54 52 2 3 0 1005 196,000 128 197133
Claxton Shield Perth Heat 0 0 27 0 0 0 0 869 35,700 27 36596
WNBL West Coast Waves 0 2 5 18 0 0 0 1006 36,400 25 37431
Sheffield Shield Western Warriors 0 3 17 3 0 0 0 1004 20,700 23 21727
NBL Perth Wildcats 0 1 3 4 1 0 0 556 33,600 9 34165
WAFL Perth Demons Football Club 0 2 7 0 0 0 0 944 17,100 9 18053
S.G. Ball Cup Western Australia Reds Rugby League Club 0 0 4 2 0 0 0 371 19,600 6 19977
Australian Rugby Championship Perth Spirit 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 1078 10,300 5 11383
WNCL Western Fury 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1010 85,700 3 86713
WAFL Claremont Tigers Football Club 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 297 13,200 3 13500
AHL WA Diamonds 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 345 7,560 3 7908
WNBL Perth Lynx 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 326 4,440 3 4769
Gridiron Australia Perth Blitz 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 484 2,110 3 2597
WAFL East Fremantle Sharks Football Club 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1002 83,100 2 84104
WAFL West Perth Falcons Football Club 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1069 32,700 2 33771
WAFL East Perth Royals Football Club 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1071 95,300 1 96372
WAFL Subiaco Lions Football Club 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 333 3,660 1 3994
ANZ Championship West Coast Fever 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1006 99,900 0 100906
WAFL South Fremantle Bulldogs Football Club 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1003 88,300 0 89303
Western Australian Suburban Turf Cricket Association (WASTCA) Subiaco Marist Cricket Club 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1002 17,400 0 18402
WAFL Peel Thunder Thunder Football Club 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 680 14,200 0 14880
State Basketball League (Western Australia) (SBL) Perth Redbacks 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 266 12,200 0 12466
State Basketball League (Western Australia) (SBL) Goldfields Giants 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 191 6,710 0 6901
WAFL Swan Districts Swans Football Club 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 614 2,440 0 3054
AHL SmokeFree WA Thundersticks 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3,020 0 3020
Gridiron Australia Perth Broncos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 277 670 0 947

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43things.com and Perth based sport clubs

Posted by Laura on Monday, 16 August, 2010

I haven’t done a real data dump day in a while and today appears to be the day. I want a distraction and trying to figure out the most popular sport teams in the Perth area fits the bill. The first is a list of goals for each time on 43things.com.

Service League Team Keyword Results Relevant goals Relevant goals + people Date checked
43things.com AFL Fremantle Dockers Fremantle Dockers 7 5 5 16-Aug-10
43things.com AFL West Coast Eagles West Coast Eagles 3035 2 3 16-Aug-10
43things.com AHL SmokeFree WA Thundersticks WA Thundersticks 1201 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com AHL SmokeFree WA Thundersticks thundersticks 0 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com AHL WA Diamonds WA Diamonds 281 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com A-League Perth Glory FC Perth Glory 202 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com ANZ Championship West Coast Fever West Coast Fever 3019 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com Australian Rugby Championship Perth Spirit Perth Spirit 112 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com Australian Rugby Championship Perth Spirit perth rugby 13 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com Claxton Shield Perth Heat Perth Heat 254 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com Gridiron Australia Perth Blitz Perth Blitz 10 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com Gridiron Australia Perth Broncos Perth Broncos 8 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com NBL Perth Wildcats Perth Wildcats 9 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com S.G. Ball Cup Western Australia Reds Rugby League Club red rugby 198 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com Sheffield Shield Western Warriors Western Warriors 483 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com State Basketball League (Western Australia) (SBL) Goldfields Giants Goldfields Giants 93 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com State Basketball League (Western Australia) (SBL) Perth Redbacks Perth Redbacks 99 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com Super 14 Western Force Western Force 919 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WAFL Claremont Tigers Football Club Claremont Football Club 4545 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WAFL East Fremantle Sharks Football Club East Fremantle Sharks 1356 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WAFL East Perth Royals Football Club East Perth Royals 1102 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WAFL Peel Thunder Thunder Football Club Peel Thunder Thunder 83 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WAFL Perth Demons Football Club Perth Demons 98 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WAFL South Fremantle Bulldogs Football Club South Fremantle Bulldogs 2808 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WAFL Subiaco Lions Football Club Subiaco Lions 101 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WAFL Swan Districts Swans Football Club Swan Districts Swans 120 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WAFL West Perth Falcons Football Club West Perth Falcons 1618 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com Western Australian Suburban Turf Cricket Association (WASTCA) Subiaco Marist Cricket Club Subiaco Marist Cricket Club 179 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com Western Australian Suburban Turf Cricket Association (WASTCA) Subiaco Marist Cricket Club perth cricket 13 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WNBL Perth Lynx Perth Lynx 6 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WNBL West Coast Waves West Coast Waves 3104 0 0 16-Aug-10
43things.com WNCL Western Fury Western Fury 448 0 0 16-Aug-10

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Socceroos: A creative research data dump (part 1)

Posted by Laura on Saturday, 12 June, 2010

I’ve been busy collecting all sorts of bits of random, creative data for the Socceroos in the lead up to the World Cup.  There is a whole lot more that I want to get but I’ve only so much time.  And time is what is holding up my ability to do an analysis prior to the World Cup regarding what some of this data could mean.  I figured I would share it so that others like you might use it to do your own analysis.  Just a word of caution: Random data is random.

43 Things
This data was checked again on June 12, 2010. These are all the questions where people mentioned Socceroos. They were found by searching 43 Things for Socceroos.

Service League Team Goal User City State Country Birthday Website Member since Date checked
43things.com World Cup Soccer Socceroos meet the socceroos nymphamadria Mount Isa Queensland Australia 5-Jul http://www.nymphamadria.com/ 9-Apr-05 14-May-10
43things.com World Cup Soccer Socceroos live to see the socceroos make it to the semi-finals xinatra Adelaide South Australia Australia 31-Oct 30-Jun-06 14-May-10
43things.com World Cup Soccer Socceroos say socceroos jeremyong 13-Sep-06 14-May-10
43things.com World Cup Soccer Socceroos play for the socceroos fun_boy 13-Aug-07 14-May-10
43things.com World Cup Soccer Socceroos play soccer for the socceroos fun_boy 13-Aug-07 14-May-10
43things.com World Cup Soccer Socceroos play for the socceroos i have liked soccer since i was 8 and i am 12 and a great straker avpr 20-Jul-08 14-May-10

Alexa
I’ve been getting data for other sport teams since early May. It took me a long time to consider adding this one…

League Team Site Alexa World Rank Rank in AU Date collected Notes
World Cup Soccer Socceroos footballaustralia.com.au http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/footballaustralia.com.au 233 130 2 575 12-Jun-10 Official page

Bebo
I wanted an idea as to the demographic make up of fans. Bebo data is often the easiest to get. (And it didn’t close down like it was rumored to have on June 1 if AOL didn’t find a buyer. Yay!) The other benchmark is for the change in total people listing them as an interest or related keyword.

Service Interest Name Gender Age City State Country Date gathered League
bebo Socceroos Off The Wall Female 18 Sydney New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Anna Female 18 Adelaide South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Irnafareen Mohd.Sah Female 18 Singapore Singapore 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Maddi p Female 18 Geelong Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jade Bishop Female 18 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos JAZjaz Female 19 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Telesha Ferguson Female 19 Medowie New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Katelyn Jenkins Female 19 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Cassy Ciampa Female 20 Oakdale New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Hue Huynh Female 20 Cabramatta New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Kayla R Female 20 The Shire England United Kingdom 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos **aImEe ** Female 20 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Mrs Camel Female 20 Bathurst New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Katherine Galata Female 20 Melbourne Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Mrs TeraiseWerravong Female 21 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos MiSS NiKKi Female 21 Penrith New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos SydneyFC till i die Female 22 Bankstown New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Liz Reed Female 25 Lord Howe Island New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Delta Lea Goodrem Female 25 Sydney New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Caro G Female 29 Adelaide South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Alex Beekmeijer Female 30 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jo Turner Female 45 Queensland Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos NaT AnToNi Female Epping New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos -Sweetaussiechic21- Female Grays Point New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Petrea Production Female Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Annette Kingston Female Elliott Northern Territory Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Ruby Kennedy Female Melbourne Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Namira Rahman Female 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Ella Female Northern Territory Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Charlotte Smith Female Sydney New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos ToRii- i think you know im dam preacious X3 Female Townsville Queensland Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Sidonie Prentice Female Williamstown Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Qantas Socceroos Female 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Katie B Female 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Murphs Female 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Louisa me Female 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Some One Female 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jenny Fleay Female 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Hugh McDonald Male 18 Sydney New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Nigel Taylor Male 18 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Lachlan Hemsworth Male 18 Dungog New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Dahir S Male 18 Melbourne Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Tariq Abawi Male 18 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Sam Manny Male 18 Deception Bay Queensland Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Ash Wood Male 19 Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Pratik Narayan Matainaboutini Nanuku Male 19 Sigatoka Nadroga-Navosa Fiji 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Souljah Male 19 Adelaide South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Kual A Male 19 St. Albans Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Joshua Stoodley Male 19 New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos James R Male 19 Eden Hills South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Nick Bruce Male 19 Sydney New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Cameron Bioz Male 19 Gosford New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Fred Wilkinson Male 19 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Capitol T Male 20 Sydney New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Gabodinho Male 21 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Tim Howard Male 21 Rockingham Queensland Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Dan Delaney Male 22 Northmead New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Tiago Pinto Male 23 Marrickville 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Noel Richardson Male 23 Hobart Tasmania Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Michael Puglisi Male 23 Sydney New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Lived to Surf Male 23 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Abomb Male 24 Blacktown New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Dukes V Male 24 Adelaide South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Antonio Male 25 Sydney New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Thai Meatpie Male 25 Chadstone Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Shaun 359 Male 26 Adelaide South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Simon Hawasly Male 27 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Mike Zaluski Male 28 Morphett Vale South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos SexyMarz26 Male 30 Adelaide South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Ian W Male 30 Adelaide South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Harry Pascoe Male 31 Sydney New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Damien Lewandowski Male 32 Adelaide South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Frank Farina Male 43 Brisbane Queensland Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Arthur Maroun Male 83 Merrylands New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Tomas Male Adelaide South Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Soccer Roos Male Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Cameron Wright Male Bendigo Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos The Original Ranga Male Blacktown New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jared Lane Male Brisbane Queensland Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Aidan Male Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Thy Whose Fern Is Red Male Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Daniel S Male Coburg Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos DJ Male Darwin Northern Territory Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jackson Bova Male Illawong New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Belardo Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos ∂ιѕн ωσυℓ∂ вє…….. zα¢ Turner Male Ingleburn New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Kingy K Male Charlestown New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Joshua Kitson Male Melbourne Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Eric Justin Male Melbourne Victoria Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos A M Male Newcastle New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Hudson Jones Male Perth Western Australia Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Chris Male Tamworth New South Wales Australia 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Brendan M Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jakob Male Wyoming United States 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Australia Socceroos Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Robert Davies Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Arif H Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Maxie Kelvin Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Mitch Rylands Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Raymond Lee Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jollze Jolly Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Nathan D Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Brooke H Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Harry Kewell Male 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Luke Redo 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Australian Socceroos 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos go socceroos roses r red crystals r blue i am lonly coz of u 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Socceroos Winner 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos i like Soccer espiacially Socceroos 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Zaz Zazzie 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Aj 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Oliver Awesome 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos DannY C 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Tim . 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Gracie-Lu 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Xx Jessa Xx 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Haydos 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Ashley A 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Lochie 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Louise 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Josh 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Sharon 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Richard G 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Danny 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Cameron Jones 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Emily H 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Adam B 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Ben P 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Meg.Loves.Tim 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Daniel Dilger 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos ….XxXluvin CenaXxXall the WAYXxX…. 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Eloise R 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Adam Evans 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jack Lions 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jordan 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Em 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Drifter is in the House 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Toby * 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Cherry 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Natto 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Garath M 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Amy Nguyen 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos I think you all know im damm preaciouse 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos HoOdO HeRsI 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos karley 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jaiden V 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos James Simpson 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Jordan Fleming 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Anthony Dang 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Morsal 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Sharna McLeod 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Bodi Richmond 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Nadia A 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Hayden M 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Meaghan Nepomuceno 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Stephanie Ghirxi 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Ates San 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Emilio Martini 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Adriana James 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer
bebo Socceroos Sakhidad D 3-Jun-10 World Cup Soccer

Changes in interest listing on bebo

Service League Team Interest People Video Music Groups Apps Skins Date gathered
bebo World Cup Soccer Socceroos Socceroos 167 169 56 29 0 0 14-May-10
bebo World Cup Soccer Socceroos Socceroos 167 169 56 29 0 0 3-Jun-10
bebo World Cup Soccer Socceroos Socceroos 167 169 56 29 0 0 12-Jun-10

Black Planet
It isn’t entirely surprising that no one lists the team as an interest on Black Planet.

Service Interest Total Members Checked
BlackPlanet Socceroos 0 3-Jun-10
BlackPlanet Socceroos 0 12-Jun-10

Blogger
At some point, I will get demographic data off blogger…

Service League Team Interest Number Date gathered
blogger World Cup Soccer Socceroos Socceroos 13 14-May-10
blogger World Cup Soccer Socceroos Socceroos 14 3-Jun-10
blogger World Cup Soccer Socceroos Socceroos 14 4-Jun-10
blogger World Cup Soccer All Whites All Whites 0 4-Jun-10
blogger World Cup Soccer Socceroos Socceroos 14 12-Jun-10

Care2
Included the All Whites. They tend to pick up a lot of irrelevant data.

Service League Team Keyword Petitions Discussions Members Groups Photos Blogs Healthy Living Ecards Date checked
care2 World Cup Socceroos Socceroos 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 12-Jun-10
care2 World Cup All Whites "All Whites" 4 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 12-Jun-10

Compete
Tracking your traffic… only limited information, and month by month. If you pay, you get access to better data. I can’t afford it so limited is what you get.

League Team URL Compete
World Cup Socceroos footballaustralia.com.au http://siteanalytics.compete.com/footballaustralia.com.au/
footballaustralia.com.au
Date Unique Visitors Growth
Apr-09 753 -47.31
May-09 236 -68.66
Jun-09 2175 821.61
Jul-09 1374 -36.83
Aug-09 713 -48.11
Sep-09 830 16.41
Oct-09 636 -23.37
Nov-09 1200 88.68
Dec-09 17 -98.58
Jan-10 43 152.94
Feb-10 3790 8713.95
Mar-10 3069 -19.02
Apr-10 5084 65.66

Related Posts:

Online Activity in the Wake of the Melbourne Storm Controversy

Posted by Laura on Thursday, 20 May, 2010

A copy of this can be found in PDF form at : ozziesport.com/storm.pdf .  The pdf version that includes footnotes that explain the methodology used and contain additional links.


Online Activity in the Wake of the Melbourne Storm Controversy

By Laura Hale, University of Canberra

On April 22, 2010, the news of salary cap violations on the part of the Melbourne Storm broke online in such publications as the Fox Sports, on television including ABC news and on multiple social networks including Facebook and Twitter. By April 23, the news was available in various print publications including The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald. During the news coverage, NRL fans learned that the team had been fined $1.8 million, stripped of two premiereships and were not eligible to earn points towards 2010’s premiership. (“Melbourne storm stripped,” 2010) The team was being punished for salary cap violations over the past five years, where the total cap violation in that period was $1.7 million with $400,000 of that total cap violation occurring in 2009. (“Melbourne storm stripped,” 2010)

Early in the coverage of the Melbourne Storm, several issues were discussed including the impact this would have on the fan base for the team, the subsequent economic fallout for Storm and other clubs in the league, and if the players would try to leave the club or lower their performance level. The consequences that people feared have yet to bear out: The fan base for the Melbourne Storm has grown, attendance has not fallen, membership is up and players have not left the team and the team continues to win.

This article will examine the online response to the Melbourne Storm controversy. Specifically, it will look at the interest patterns on several networks, follow patterns on Twitter and Facebook, and activity levels on 43things, wikis and Yahoo!Groups. It will prove that, on the whole, the controversy has not eroded the online fanbase for the team and has resulted in an increased profile for the team in ways can have a net positive for the team and their sponsors.


Profile Interest

One way to quickly gage online interest for a team is to check the number of people who list them as an interest on social networks that include that option. The level of interest on a network will, in general, increase over time. Including an interest is a rather passive activity that most people do at the time that they signup on a service. They may update their interests once a year when they do an overhaul on their profile. Other factors may result in an update of interests, most notably a desire to associate or disassociate with certain people and organizations. The latter can generally require a certain amount of rage and disillusionment and does not happen that often. For adding interests, it can require a certain degree of wanting to stand in solidarity with some one or thing in the face of perceived oppression. Adding or removing an interest will generally require a large emotional response in people to motivate them to change their interests on social networks where an individual has not been active in the past six months. These conditions mean that numbers for interests are relatively stable or increase. A big shift downward is possible but unlikely.

Did the Melbourne Storm controversy result in people being motivated to update their interests to include or exclude the team? Yes and no, many people added them as an interest on Facebook but the numbers remained level across several other networks.

As of January 9, 2010, 17,020 had listed the Melbourne Storm as an interest on Facebook. By May 9, 2010, this number had increased to 41,240, or 24,220 new people. From January 9 to May 9, 2010, there was also an increase of roughly 120 fans within fifty miles of Hobart adding the team as an interest, going from less than 20 to 140. Canberra saw a similar increase in fans, going from 140 on January 9 to 1,020 by May 9, 2010, an increase of 880 new people listing the team as an interest. For fans within fifty miles of Cranbourne, there was an increase of 5,540 fans going from 7,140 fans on January 9 to 12,580 fans on May 9, 2010. Some of this increase on Facebook can be possibly attributed to a change in Facebook in mid-April, where people were encouraged to add their interests as likes of fanpages and vice versa. (Albanesius, 2010) It cannot entirely explain the shift as the official Melbourne Storm page is a user page, not a fan page so the interest to liking will not be automatically converted. At the same time, the number of people listing the team as an interest is roughly ten times as many who follow the Storm’s official Facebook profile and suggests that interest listing is independent of following the official team presence.

In addition to the Melbourne Storm interest on Facebook, there have been two new interests related to the storm created in the wake of the controversy: “Shame On You Melbourne Storm” with fewer than twenty people listing it as an interest, and “Sucked In Melbourne Storm Haha” with 3,240 people listing it as an interest. The latter definitely connects to a Facebook fanpage with the same name, which has 8,432 people who like it.

While Facebook saw an explosion in growth of people listing the team as an interest, other sites allowing interest listing on profiles remained stagnant or saw limited growth. This includes bebo, where there has been no change as of April 28 and May 9 from 402 people that was originally recorded on March 18, 2010. Blogger saw some growth for the number of people listing the team as an interest. As of January 18, 2010, four people had listed the team. By May 9, 2010, six people had listed them as an interest. As the time frame is wider than that of bebo, it might be possible to account for the increase as a pre-season boost, rather than in response to the controversy. Either way, this was an increase of fifty percent for new people listing the team as an interest.

LiveJournal saw no growth in people listing the team as an interest between January 10 and May 9, 2010. Of the 25 LiveJournal accounts listing the Melbourne Storm as an interest, only five have updated since the controversy broke. LiveJournal’s clones including Dreamwidth, Blurty and DeadJournal also saw no growth as of May 9. This contrasts to the Brisbane Broncos on LiveJournal, where one person removed the team as an interest during a similar period. Dreamwidth had two users listing the team as an interest as of January 9, Blurty had one user as of January 9, and DeadJournal had one user as of December 23, 2009. None of the people on LiveJournal’s clones who list the Storm as an interest have updated their journals since the controversy happened. The most recent updates occurred on Dreamwidth, taking place in early March 2010. The other account last updated in April 2009. The Blurty account last updated in November 2005 and the DeadJournal account last updated in January 2006.

One or two smaller niche networks have limited interest for specific teams or where people only list the NRL as an interest. This includes BlackPlanet, generally targeted at African Americans inside the United States. There was one person who listed the NRL as an interest on the network as of February 15, 2010. This has not changed as of May 9. Care2 is a social networked targeted at people who wish to make the world a better place. As of March 20, 2010, no one had listed the Melbourne Storm as an interest. This changed by May 9, when three people listed the team as an interest. Given the names, limited profiles and join dates, it is possible that these accounts are all tied to one individual. Gaia Online is a small, niche network for role players. As of March 11, 2010, no one had listed the Melbourne Storm as an interest. There is interest in the NRL on the network as people listed the Brisbane Lions, Canberra Raiders, Parramatta Eels and Sydney Roosters as interests. There has not been any change for any of these teams as of May 9. The limited growth and lack of pull back could suggest that larger interest in the NRL has not been diminished on smaller networks as a result of the controversy.


Wiki Activity

Wikis are, at their most basic, web sites where visitors can easily edit the content of the site. Sometimes, there are limits to who can edit put in place by the creator of a wiki. These include requiring users to register or confirm an e-mail before they edit, or to get their account approved by the admin before they can edit. Some wikis have policies when breaking news happen or an article gets trolled to lock down the article so only registered users can edit or wiki admins can edit. The culture of editing on specific wikis thus develops around the who can edit process as locking down wikis to prevent edits can effect the frequency that an article is updated.

For comprehensive wiki articles, the ideal is to have to have editors who approach the topic from different perspectives, where there is inherent conflict in the content and perspective being presented. If this situation does not exist, an article can be highjacked by one or two editors who seek to push their own perspective. The more edits and people involved in contributing to the article, the less likely the article will be biased. This also makes vandalism less problematic as people are incentivized to quickly remove that material.

Wikis can be a good tool for gauging interest in a particular topic over time as most wiki software keeps a record of all edits to a page. For some of the big wikis, like Wikipedia, data also exists for how many views an article has over a certain time period. This can help track more passive community interest in a topic.

Wikipedia’s English language article about the Melbourne Storm is probably the most visited wiki article about the team and appears third in Google’s search results for the team. The article, found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Storm , was created on May 23, 2004. As of May 9, 2010, the article had 1,732 total edits made to it. The controversy involving the Melbourne Storm broke on April 22, 2010. 1,471 of the edits were made prior to that. In the period between the article’s creation and the day before the controversy broke, an average of .681 edits per day were made to the article. In the eighteen-day period since the controversy broke, an average of 14.5 edits per day were made to the article. The vast majority of these edits were made in the first three days, with 90 edits made on April 22, 56 edits made on April 23 and 69 edits made on April 24. On April 24, in response to repeated vandalism, the article was semi-protected; this meant that only registered users who had confirmed their e-mail could edit the article. The protection had the effect of reducing the total number of daily edits to the article. After that, peak editing days included April 26 and May 3 with seven edits, and April 25 and May 5 with six edits. There were zero edits on April 28, May 6, May 7 and May 9. The controversy certainly caused an increase in the number of edits. If the day that the controversy broke and the next two days are excluded, the average number of daily edits is 3.06 edits per day. This is still higher than the period prior to the controversy and the trend will probably continue at least until the end of the season.

The article views per day mirrors the total edits by day. Based on data provided by Henrick (2010, May 1 and May 9), there is a correlation of .904 between the total daily edits and the total daily page views. According to Henrick (2010, May 1) during April 2010, the article was viewed a total of 49,540 times. Of these views, 40,355 views were between April 22, when the story broke, and April 30. The peak day for visits was on April 22, when the article was viewed 14,800 times. The average page views between April 22 and April 30 was 4,482 views per day. If this period is extended out to include data provided by Henrick (2010, May 9) for May 1 to May 8, the average views per day is 2,700. If the three days around when the controversy first broke are excluded, the average edits per day drops to 1,143. This stands in contrast to the period between April 1 and April 21 where the average page views per day was 438. The above average page views trend appears to be continuing. There has not been a decrease in overall interest in the Melbourne Storm on English Wikipedia.

In addition to the English language article about the Melbourne Storm on Wikipedia, there are articles in two other languages: French and Italian. The French language article, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Storm , was created on March 1, 2006. Since the controversy started on April 22 and May 8, there have been 35 total edits to the article. Unlike the English language article, total edits per day peaked on April 24, 2010 with 19 with the second highest editing day occurring on April 23 with 7. The average total edits per day during this period was 2.1. In April, prior to the controversy, the average edits per day was zero. Also unlike the English language article, it was not locked because of vandalism. According to Henrickhe (2010, May 1) peak views per day happened on April 23 and April 24 with 59. The next day with the greatest number of views in the period between April 22 and May 8 is May 8 with 34. The average viewed per day in the April 22 to May 8 period was 17.4 and the average viewed per day in April prior to the controversy was 3.4. The correlation between the total edits per day and views per day in the period between April 1 and May 8 is .7740. The French Wikipedia article saw an increase that was proportionally bigger than the English article but the total views and edits were much smaller on the French article.

The Italian language Wikipedia article, http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Storm , was created on December 21, 2007. The article had two edits in 2008 and one in 2009. Since the controversy broke on April 22 and May 8, there have two edits to the article. These two edits are the only edits made during 2010. According to Henrickhe (2010, May 1) , the total number of article views from April 1 to April 21 was 30. According to Henrickhe (2010, May 8), the total number of page views per day was 58. The day with the most views was April 23, with 14 views. The next day with the most views was May 3, with 8 views. The Italian Wikipedia article saw an increase in the total number of edits and page views as a result of the controversy. It might have been larger but the Italian interest in the team is much smaller to start with than the French or English language communities.

Outside of Wikipedia, there are a few small wikis that focus on the NRL and Rugby League. These wikis generally lack detailed information on the daily total page views but still provide information on the editing history. One such wiki is the NRL Central Wiki that is hosted on Wikia. It has an article about the Melbourne Storm located at http://nrl.wikia.com/wiki/Melbourne_Storm. The article was created on August 13, 2009 and was last updated on October 10, 2009. It has not been updated since the controversy. The wiki the article is hosted has only had three non-bot edits in the past 30 days so the lack of updates is not surprising. A few other wikis have articles that mention the Melbourne Storm. Most of these are institutional wikis where article histories are not available or where content is posted by its creator and never intended to be edited by a wider audience. There does not appear to be a movement by wikis to create additional content in response to or to try to capitalize on interest in response to the controversy.


Twitter

Twitter is a microblogging service. Users can post 140 character messages , called tweets, that are shared with anyone who chooses to follow them. Twitter is one of the most well known and popular social networks in Australia.

There are two main ways to measure Twitter activity. The first is to keep track of the total followers an account has. The second way is to monitor the total number of daily tweets posted about a topic posted across the whole network and by specific accounts.

The Melbourne Storm have an official Twitter account at @MelbStormRLC . There is an unofficial Melbourne Storm Twitter account run by a fansite at @MelbourneStorm_ . As of March 9, 2010, the official account had 458 followers. This contrasts with @MelbourneStorm_ which had 605 followers as of March 8, 2010. By May 10, about nineteen days after the controversy broke, the official account had 1,037 followers and @ MelbourneStorm_ had 720 followers. That was an increase of 579 and 115 followers respectively. The situation has not hurt growth for either account and people are still interested in keeping up with the team and what they are doing.

When compared to the official Twitter accounts for the NRL, Gold Coast Titans, Manly Sea Eagles, North Queensland Cowboys, Parramatta Eels, Canberra Raiders, South Sydney Rabbitohs and New Zealand Warriors, the follower growth for the Melbourne Storm suggests a potential connection to the controversy creating additional interest or a fanbase that has become much more interested in Twitter in a short period of time. (Table 1) The only account with a greater increase in total number of followers is the NRL, which picked up 942 followers. The Melbourne Storm saw a fifty-five percent increase in the new followers. The next closest team of the aforementioned in the same period was the Canberra Raiders who saw a forty-two percent increase. In this context, it reaffirms that additional interest in the team was likely generated by the controversy.

Table 1

Twitter Follower Counts by Official Club Accounts and Date
Team Account
9-Mar-10

10-May-10

Difference

% increase
Gold Coast Titans GCTitans
1,616

1,950

334

17.13%
Manly Sea Eagles manlyseaeagles
888

1,073

185

17.24%
Melbourne Storm MelbStormRLC
458

1,037

579

55.83%
North Queensland Cowboys northqldcowboys
1,403

1,588

185

11.65%
NRL NRL
4,231

5,173

942

18.21%
Parramatta Eels parramatta_eels
618

780

162

20.77%
Canberra Raiders RaidersCanberra
202

349

147

42.12%
South Sydney Rabbitohs SSFCRABBITOHS
761

1,139

378

33.19%
New Zealand Warriors thenzwarriors
434

507

73

14.40%


Detailed statistics regarding the total number of references for the Melbourne Storm by day on Twitter are not available. It makes it harder to determine the total daily volume of conversation involving the team in the days surrounding the news leaking about the salary cap violations. People were interested in the Melbourne Storm as the team was briefly trending on Twitter when the story broke. Manual counting can be done but Twitter search only goes back around one week What can be more easily tracked is the posting volume per day of specific accounts related to the Melbourne Storm to compare their activities before and after the controversy broke. In the case of the @MelbourneStorm_, the account does not update regularly with about twenty tweets made during the past year. Their last tweet was on March 24, 2010; they have not posted since the news broke. @MelbStormRLC has posted several tweets since the controversy and has mentioned it. From April 22 to May 9, eighteen days after the story broke, the Storm have made eleven total tweets. Prior to that, the team had made thirteen tweets. The difference in tweet totals is inconsequential. Neither account made changes to their Twitter posting in response in to the controversy.

Searching through Twitter, it is very clear that people are still tweeting about the team and, as of May 10, are tweeting about them at a comparatively higher rate than other teams in the league. One popular way of indicating a tweet is about a certain topic is to include a hashtag in front of a word. This makes the whole phrase easily searchable on Twitter. For example, a person who is tweeting about the Melbourne Storm may include #melbournestorm to indicate the tweet is about the team. There generally fewer of these tweets as a great many accounts on Twitter come directly from RSS feeds. These feeds were not originally created for Twitter and are absent some of the cultural practices and do not use coding tools to help make finding posts easier. Thus, tweets tagged with a # are fewer and more readily countable in search. This allows for comparisons to be made between teams over a short period. For the period between May 3 and May 8, 2010, #melbournestorm beat out all the other teams that were sampled for most the most discussed NRL team. (Table 2) There were twenty-one references for the team on May 5. This is sixteen more than #manlyseaeagles on the same date and the only other team with five or more tweets with a hashtag on a single day. The controversy can likely be seen as the cause for the increase in the number of tweets when compared to other teams in the league.

Table 2
Hashtagged Marked NRL Team Tweets
Team Keyword
3-May-10

4-May-10

5-May-10

6-May-10

7-May-10

8-May-10
Brisbane Broncos #brisbanebroncos
0

0

0

0

0

1
Canberra Raiders #canberraraiders
0

0

0

0

0

1
Gold Coast Titans #GCtitans
0

0

0

1

0

0
Gold Coast Titans #goldcoasttitans
0

0

0

1

0

0
Manly Sea Eagles #manlyseaeagles
0

0

5

0

0

0
Melbourne Storm #melbournestorm
0

2

21

2

3

1
Newcastle Knights #NewcastleKnights
0

0

0

0

0

0
North Queensland Cowboys #NQCowboys
0

0

0

0

0

0
North Queensland Cowboys #NQldCowboys
0

0

0

0

0

0
North Queensland Cowboys #NorthQldCowboys
0

0

0

0

0

0
North Queensland Cowboys #NorthQueenslandCowboys
0

0

0

0

0

0
Parramatta Eels #ParramattaEels
0

0

0

0

0

0
Penrith Panthers #PenrithPanthers
0

0

0

0

0

0
Sydney Roosters #SydneyRoosters
1

0

0

0

0

0
Wests Tigers #WestsTigers
0

0

0

0

1

0



Facebook

Facebook is one of the largest social networks in Australia and it arguably has the largest population of Melbourne Storm fans online. Outside of interest monitoring, the easiest way to monitor the activities of fans is to examine the fan community’s growth on official pages and groups, and activity levels on these groups.

The Melbourne Storm has an official user profile on Facebook. The profile is for their mascot, Storm Man. It has a limited profile view so only people who have friended the account can view posts and interact with content posted by Storm Man. When the profile was checked on April 6, 2010, the account had 3,203 friends. Checked again on April 28, the account had 4,154. On May 9, the account had 4,401 friends and on May 10, it had 4,494 friends. While the total new friends for their account was fewer than other clubs such as the Brisbane Lions over the same period (Table 3), the team had the largest percentage increase in: 28.7% versus 13.5% for the next closest team, the North Queensland Cowboys. The controversy did not cost the team any friends and resulted in a higher percentage gain when compared to other teams. It has resulted in a net momentum gain that continues almost three weeks after the controversy first broke out.

Table 3
Facebook Fan Counts by Club and Date
Official Facebook account
6-Apr-10

10-May-10

Difference

% increase
Melbourne Storm
3,203

4,494

1,291

28.7%
North Queensland Cowboys
2,428

2,806

378

13.5%
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
14,895

17,044

2,149

12.6%
Wests Tigers
14,078

15,911

1,833

11.5%
Gold Coast Titans
18,032

20,204

2,172

10.8%
Sydney Roosters
12,204

13,570

1,366

10.1%
Newcastle Knights
12,766

13,774

1,008

7.3%
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
9,502

10,229

727

7.1%
Canberra Raiders
2,583

2,775

192

6.9%
Brisbane Lions
45,327

48,228

2,901

6.0%


Facebook Fan Pages are created by teams and by fans. The person who created the Fan Page can post to the wall, control else who can post to the wall, control the type of content posted to the Fan Page and create a unique landing page. Members of a Fan Page can comment on wall posts and indicate they like the post. There are many Melbourne Storm fans that have created Fan Pages and many more have joined, commented and liked posts made to these Fan Pages. A quick search on Facebook for Fan Pages dedicated to the team using the keywords “Melbourne Storm” results in over 500 pages about the team. By looking at a sample of the individual Fan Pages to check the daily posting volume of wall posts and the number of likes and comments to those posts, an idea of how the controversy effected fan interests can be determined.

For this, three Fan Pages were chosen. These were the top three Fan Pages in search that were not created in response to the controversy. They are Melbourne Storm, Best team in NRL.. Melbourne Storm ! and melbourne storm :) . The total posts per day by the person who runs the Fan Page, and comments and likes per post associated with the post for the day were recorded for the period between April 1 and May 10, 2010. (Table 4) When comparing the total posts in the period between April 1 and April 22, 2010 to the period between April 23 to May 10, two of the three Fan Pages had more posts made by the maintainers before the controversy. (Graph 1) Two of the three groups saw an increase in the total comments made after the controversy. For Melbourne Storm, a Fan Page with over 40,000 members, the increase was massive going from 54 comments to 803 comments. The increase for Best team in NRL.. Melbourne Storm !, a group with 281 members as of May 10, was much smaller. It went from 252 to 257 comments. For all three groups, there was an increase in the number of likes after the controversy took place. While posting levels by Fan Page maintainers may not have increased, the level of engagement and interest in the team for the fan population did. The controversy has created a climate where fans are more engaged with posts.




Mailing lists

During much of the 1990s, mailing lists were one of the most popular tools for fans to use in order to communicate with each other. The creation of mailing lists became much easier when sites like egroups, coollists, topica, Yahoo!Groups and Google groups were created. They largely automated the process of creating mailing lists, provided web based archives and removed barriers of having to understand majordomo syntax in order to join a list.

Australian sports fans actively used these services to participate in their team’s fandom. Some leagues and teams were more popular than other leagues and teams. Amongst the fan communities utilizing mailing lists were Melbourne Storm fans. Most of the lists dedicated to team were on Yahoo!Groups, where there are currently eight lists. These eight lists include melbournestorm2, melbournestormrugbyleague, melbournestormsupportersclub, Storm_Squad, StormSupporters, MSSC-Storm-Mailouts and melbourne_storm_supporters. Many of these lists are no longer active. There are a variety of reasons for this including absent list owners, large volumes of spam content posted on list, people switching to different services in order to express their fondness for the team or fans losing interest in a team. If spam content is not counted in total posting volume by month, the peak posting month was February 2001 with 59 total posts across all eight lists. January 2001 had the next highest posting volume by month with 50 posts. Given the always small and inactive community, it is not surprising that there have been zero posts on these lists since the controversy broke out. These lists have also seen zero growth in membership since their totals were last checked on February 20, 2010. The controversy had no effect on the Storm’s mailing list community.


43things

According to Robot Co-op (2010), 43things “is the world’s largest goal-setting community.” Members of the site set goals for themselves that are published on their profiles and on lists of others who share the same goal. Members are also encouraged to blog about their efforts in trying to complete their goals. Other members are encouraged to cheer people on as they work to complete a goal. When a goal has been completed, people change the goal status to “I did this” and it appears as completed on their profile. This site is relatively popular; according to Alexa Internet, Inc. (2010), the site is ranked the 2,549th most popular website in Australia.

There are a number of people who have set Australia related sports goals on 43thing. This includes playing for certain clubs to attending the finals to seeing the team they barrack for play. On April 1, 2010, the site was searched for any goals that connected to the Melbourne Storm. Only one goal related to the Melbourne Storm was found. It is “Go to a Melbourne Storm Game.” Two people, erynne and mmcpharlane, had listed this as a goal they were working towards completing. When checked again on May 10, no one had added any additional goals related to the Melbourne Storm. No movement had been made towards completing the existing goal: Both individuals still listed themselves as working towards it and neither had updated their blog to indicate they were any closer to accomplishing this goal. The controversy has not had any measurable impact on people’s goal setting and efforts towards accomplishing their goals as they pertain to the Melbourne Storm.


Conclusion

The controversy involving the Melbourne Storm’s salary cap violations and the subsequent punishment of rewarding them zero points for the season has not resulted in a loss of people interested in the team or resulted in a drop in activity level on the part of fans. Across smaller and less popular services and web sites, there has been no behavior change; the controversy has had a null effect in that no one removed content or interests, nor created content and added interests. For larger sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Wikipedia, there has been a gain in followers, viewers and interactions. Eighteen days out from the initial incident, a long tail increase in views and interactions exists when compared to the period prior to the controversy. While some of the initial burst of activity and interest could be a consequence of negativity publicity, the long tail interest two to three weeks out is much harder to attribute to solely to wanting to watch a controversy for the sake of entertainment. If interest continue to stay elevated, the club should be able to leverage to increase club membership and sponsorship deals, especially as they apply to their online presence, because they have successfully used the controversy to grow their fanbase. The behaviors of fans demonstrate that have been incentized to express their loyalty and solidarity with the team.

References

Albanesius, C. (2010, April 19). Facebook makes ‘connections,’ adds community pages. PC Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362825,00.asp

Alexa Internet, Inc. (2010, May 10). 43things.com – site info from alexa. Retrieved from http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/43things.com

Henrik, Initials. (2010, May 1). Wikipedia article traffic statistics: Melbourne_Storm has been viewed 49377 times in 201004 . Retrieved from http://stats.grok.se/en/201004/Melbourne_Storm

Henrik, Initials. (2010, May 1). Wikipedia article traffic statistics: Melbourne_Storm has been viewed 276 times in 201004. Retrieved from http://stats.grok.se/fr/201004/Melbourne_Storm

Henrik, Initials. (2010, May 1). Wikipedia article traffic statistics: Melbourne_Storm has been viewed 276 times in 201004. Retrieved from http://stats.grok.se/it/201004/Melbourne_Storm

Henrik, Initials. (2010, May 9). Wikipedia article traffic statistics: Melbourne_Storm has been viewed 5561 times in 201005. Retrieved from http://stats.grok.se/en/201005/Melbourne_Storm

Henrik, Initials. (2010, May 9). Wikipedia article traffic statistics: Melbourne_Storm has been viewed 91 times in 201005. Retrieved from http://stats.grok.se/fr/201005/Melbourne_Storm

Henrik, Initials. (2010, May 9). Wikipedia article traffic statistics: Melbourne_Storm has been viewed 19 times in 201005. Retrieved from http://stats.grok.se/it/201005/Melbourne_Storm

Melbourne storm stripped of two premierships for salary cap breach. (2010, April 22). Fox Sports, Retrieved from http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,27022196-5018866,00.html

Robot Co-op. (2010, May 10). List your goals on 43 things. Retrieved from http://www.43things.com/

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Distribution of Australian sports fans by league and location

Posted by Laura on Tuesday, 23 March, 2010

Distribution of Australian sports fans by league and location map

I’m trying to make a map of Australian sports fandom across various social networks.  This is going to take a long time and require a long explanation to understand exactly what you’re seeing.  This map isn’t intended to be all comprehensive.  I’m still collecting data and will likely continue to collecting data for a long time.    That’s why a long explanation is needed.

Country League Rugby: Group 21 is represented exclusively by the Facebook group SCONE THOROUGHBREDS RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB. Location was identified the location of the school network members listed themselves as belonging to.

For the NWBL, amongst the social networks I’ve checked so far, only You!Tube had people who listed the league.  And that was one person.  There were several people on Facebook who belonged the Wollongong Roller Hawks group and listed a network which I could affiliate with a city.

The AHL is represented by a Facebook group for the Tassie Tigers and three people on bebo. There were no fans on LiveJournal’s clones or blogger.

The AFL includes full data from 43things, bebo, blogger, eacademy, Daniel Jackson – TIGER TUFF!, Law Hawks and No matter how bad they are, I will still barrack for the Richmond Tigers! groups on Facebook, Gaia Online (but no one was an AFL fan who listed a city), LiveJournal and its clones, only Collingwood from MySpace profile search, only Brisbane Lions, Collingwood Magpies and Carlton Blues from orkut, only the scrapheap_afl mailing list on Yahoo!groups, and only the Geelong Cats on YouTube.

For the NRL, the following Facebook groups were included: Matt Johns to coach the Newcastle Knights in 2010! , Wests Tigers NYC and Melbourne-based Wests Tigers Fanatics. Only the Brisbane Broncos were looked at on 43things. Every team was searched for on bebo, blogger, Gaia Online, LiveJournal and its clones. The sample is much smaller than the AFL. (Though the community on bebo is much larger than AFL community on bebo. It might sort of make up for that.)

WNBL totals came from YouTube, MySpace, eacademy, bebo and LiveJournal clones.

For the NBL, only the Brisbane Bullets were looked at on 43 things. On Facebook for the NBL, unlike for most leagues looked at, an attempt was made to find every group connected to the team. Thus, the following groups and fanpages are represented: Townsville McDonald’s Crocodiles, Adelaide 36ers, Adelaide 36ers are the greatest team of ANY kind EVER!!, Adelaide 36ers Fan Zone, Bring Allen Iverson to the Adelaide 36ers!, Bring Dusty Rychart back to the Adelaide 36ers ~ beg, plead, grovel ;p, Cairns Taipans , Croc Nation, Early 90′s Perth Wildcats appreciation group, Gold Coast Blaze, Melbourne Tigers, melbourne tigers are the best team, Melbourne Tigers Basketball Club, Melbourne Tigers cheer squeda east and south ends , Melbourne Tigers NBL HUMMER CHAMPIONS 2007/08, Melbourne Tigers NBL supporters, New Zealand Breakers, Official Perth Wildcats, Perth Wildcats, Perth Wildcats, Perth Wildcats (Catties Fans), SAVE OUR MELBOURNE TIGERS NBL TEAM , THIS SEASON., Save Our South Dragons:www. saveourdragons.com, South Dragons 2008/09 Nbl Champions, South Melbourne Dragons, The Melbourne Tigers Fan Group, The Official Adelaide 36ers Page, Townsville McDonald’s Crocodiles and Wollongong Hawks. If this was done with other clubs and leagues, the representation for the AFL and NRL would probably be much, much bigger. Every team was looked at on bebo, blogger, LiveJournal and its clones. It also includes members of melbournetigers on Yahoo!Groups.

For the VFL, only the Geelong Cats and Coburg Tigers were checked. On MySpace, Frankston Dolphins , Sandringham Zebras , Werribee Tigers , Collingwood Magpies and Geelong Cats were checked. All teams were checked on LiveJournal and its clones, blogger and bebo.

A-League is represented by a search of all teams on bebo, blogger, LiveJournal and its clones. Orkut was searched for Melbourne Victory fans. It might not show up on the first version of this map because after about seven layers, the mapping software gets slow.

Distribution of Australian sports fans by league and location map

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