I love social media…in fact, it’s part of my job. I’m the social media director for a TV station in Columbia, South Carolina. I actually have three Twitter accounts and also run another three accounts. So I understand the power of social media and see its trends.
With that said, I would say based on all I’ve seen that the fans of the New England Patriots are the worst on social media. Between the nasty, profane, hate-filled things they have said to sports writers and fans to the outrageous things they tweeted at Torrey Smith after he lost his brother, Patriots fans have proven to be quite harsh on social media.
Now there is a study to back up my thoughts -except it also says Baltimore Ravens fans are pretty bad.
Proofpoint Nexgate researchers analyzed the social media presence of the 12 NFL Playoff contenders to find out whose fans are the most active, the most profane and the most targeted. So remember, this does not include teams that did not make the playoffs.
The fans of some teams that lost early in the playoffs are still very vocal on social media. Researchers took a two-hour window to figure out the most active social media fans, and Cowboy fans were very active.
The Most Active 2015 NFL Playoff Team Fans, according to Proofpoint research include:
1. Dallas Cowboys (247,057 comments)
2. Green Bay Packers (157,200)
3. New England Patriots (134,100)
4. Baltimore Ravens (86,200)
5. Pittsburgh Steelers (81,606)
Next researchers looked at the percentage of inappropriate content (profanity, hate speech, bullying, pornography, other negative language). The runaway leader in this category are Steelers fans.
According to Proofpoint research, the most profane 2015 NFL Playoff Team fans include:
1. Pittsburgh Steelers (6.15% profane content)
2. Baltimore Ravens (1.62%)
3. New England Patriots (1.13%)
4. Detroit Lions (1.00%)
5. Cincinnati Bengals (0.79%)
On the flip side, there are some fans of playoff teams that are just too nice, and it starts in the south.
The most polite 2015 NFL Playoff Team fans, according to Proofpoint, include:
1. Carolina Panthers (0.32% polite content)
2. Denver Broncos (0.32%)
3. Seattle Seahawks (0.35%)
4. Indianapolis Colts (0.40%)
5. Green Bay Packers (0.45)
However, some teams are not good to talk about on social media as they are highly targeted for security incidents, including scams, malware, malicious links, etc. The list of Most Targeted NFL Playoff team Facebook accounts are almost the same as the Most Active, with the exception of the Broncos taking the place of the Ravens. “America’s Team” accumulated the most hackers and scammers.
According to Proofpoint, the 2015 NFL Playoff Teams’ Facebook Pages Most Targeted with Scams, Malicious Links & Malware, include:
1. Dallas Cowboys (192 security incidents)
2. New England Patriots (78)
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (57)
4. Green Bay Packers (56)
5. Denver Broncos (52)
I’m glad the Ravens aren’t on that last list, but the Ravens have always been thought of negatively across the league, and studies like this won’t help that image either.
