The 2012/13 Social Media Premier League

Matt Briggs -

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.