Consensus has been that Arsenal is second, while Chelsea or Liverpool takes third.
Well, new data released by Twitter tell a different story.
The social media site has released a breakdown of the clubs’ popularity all over the world, based on their own data. Using follower count and their countries, Twitter has concluded that though Manchester United is still the most popular club in the world, its following in certain countries is not as huge as believed.
For instance, Liverpool is the most popular club in the UK, but Arsenal takes London. However, it’s good news for Van Gaal boys as Manchester has been confirmed to be red.
In the US, Arsenal is the most popular, followed by Chelsea then Manchester United in that order. Arsenal also takes Canada, France and Germany.
In Africa, the gunners are top in Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Nigeria among others.
Manchester united meanwhile takes Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, etc.
Chelsea also has a huge following, taking the lead in Egypt, Libya, Ghana and Ivory Coast.
There’s one big flaw with the Twitter data however. The report is based on the number of followers per country, yet the clubs do not have a similar number of Twitter followers.
For instance, there’s a nearly one million difference between the number of Arsenal followers and Manchester United followers, in favor of the north London club.
Here’s a breakdown.
Arsenal – 5.68 million
Chelsea – 5.49 million
Manchester United – 4.87
The red devils were however late entrants into Twitter, joining the microblogging site 3 years after both Arsenal and Chelsea. In contrast, Man United’s Facebook page has 64 million likes, twice as many as Arsenal.
The true data lies outside Twitter. For instance, a good test would be to compare the numbers at your local joint during an Arsenal game and during a Manchester United game.
Here’s the interactive map from Twitter showing the clubs’ popularity around the world. Zoom to Kenya or to the country of your choice.
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