The 2012/13 Social Media Premier League
The beginning of a new Premier League season doesn’t just mean the return of hours of inane punditry from ex-professionals in dodgy designer shirts. No, it also marks the return of the Social Media Premier League (which, due to my love of acronyms that don’t quite make sense, will now be known as SMEPL).
Just like the professional game, relegation is a fact of life in the SMEPL so out go Blackburn, Bolton and Wolves – three clubs who had contrasting fortunes in previous versions of the SMEPL table – and in come Reading, Southampton and West Ham. How will the new boys fair? You can find out below.
Klout | Peer Index | TOTAL | ||
1 | Chelsea | 83 | 80 | 81.5 |
2 | Liverpool | 84 | 71 | 77.5 |
3 | Manchester City | 82 | 68 | 75 |
4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 82 | 68 | 75 |
5 | Aston Villa | 71 | 71 | 71 |
6 | Norwich City | 80 | 61 | 70.5 |
7 | Sunderland | 80 | 55 | 67.5 |
8 | Arsenal | 83 | 47 | 65 |
9 | Newcastle United | 71 | 59 | 65 |
10 | Reading | 80 | 50 | 65 |
11 | Queens Park Rangers | 72 | 57 | 64.5 |
12 | Wigan Athletic | 79 | 50 | 64.5 |
13 | West Ham United | 71 | 57 | 64 |
14 | Southampton | 69 | 58 | 63.5 |
15 | Fulham | 72 | 52 | 62 |
16 | West Bromwich Albion | 70 | 50 | 60 |
17 | Stoke City | 69 | 39 | 54 |
18 | Everton | 78 | 23 | 50.5 |
19 | Swansea City | 11 | 69 | 40 |
Previous versions of this table have seen Chelsea lead the way by some considerable distance and at the start of the 2012/13 season it’s apparent that very little has changed, however the gap has began to close ever so slightly.
Elsewhere it’s clear that Everton have tailed off dramatically while Wigan Athletic have began to climb the league, Swansea are still struggling at the bottom due to a low and possibly unfair Peer Index score, in the North East Sunderland have overtaken Newcastle as social media top dogs and Manchester United still don’t have a Twitter account.
Across the board it’s apparent that scores are rising. Is this down to a greater understanding of how to use social media amongst football clubs, or is it simply due to the recent formula rejigging undertaken by Klout? Have you seen an upturn in the level and quality of interaction from clubs over the summer months? Let me know.