- Lance Armstrong
- Tony Hawk
- Roger Federer
- Ronaldinho Gaúcho
- Michael Phelps
- Dwight Howard
- David Beckham
- Valentino Rossi
- Lebron James
- Michael Jordan
- Maria Sharapova
- Serena Williams
- Rafael Nadal
- Kobe Bryant
- Paul Pierce
- Usain Bolt
- Tiger Woods
- Ryan Sheckler
- Shaquille O’Neal
- Manny Pacquiao
- Yao Ming
- Dwyane Wade
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Stewart Cink
- Muhammad Ali
The Vitrue 25 Top Social Athletes - July Snapshot
Sports for many of us are a way of life. Sports unite us and create epic battle cries we rally around to be part of a team and it becomes part of our DNA to a large degree.
Our passion for sports also transcends boundaries from geographic regions to culture, race and sex.
We thought it would be not only interesting but also fun to take a look at the top social athletes to see who is being most buzzed about on the social web.
The Vitrue 25 Top Social Athlete ranking, as covered in USA Today, helps shed light on how truly social our society has become and is meant to provide a simple, directional snapshot of what is being most talked about on the social web – from social networks to photo and video sharing sites to blogs and microblogs, the list represents a week’s average of data in July and is most likely impacted by seasonality with such events as the Tour De France and Wimbledon.
You will no doubt notice the list is heavily occupied by athletes whose appeal transcends borders and the higher propensity for athletes who participate in individual versus team sports.
As a traditional sports guy, I was disappointed no NFL players made the list as I am a huge fan. That said, if you take a step back, many of the athletes on the list participate in sports which are played on a global level and is illustrative of the phenomenon social media has become connecting us all.
Sports stars are in and of themselves brands which build followings that create buzz not to mention legacies. This social currency is extremely valuable with its far reaching and powerful effects. As marketers continue to look to more tightly couple their sponsored athletes and sporting events with their social media presence, we would expect these numbers to continue to grow across the spectrum. We all are getting more social at an exponential rate and to reach the hearts and minds of consumers you have to be social.
We know the list may strike healthy debate because competition is what drive us. One thing we also wanted to note, some stars are active social media users as we see from the velocity of Michael Phelps’s tweets to Dwight Howard’s multi-faceted social approach, some too have made the list not because they actively push content themselves but because they are just currently popular personas on the social web.
Want to check out your favorite? Enter their name and see their score. You can easily share and debate….long live rivalry!
For more on the Vitrue Social Media Index methodology
