Footballers are Better Than us at Social Media...and Also Football.

     Many years before social media was a thing, opinion leaders used football as a platform to spread their messages. Even those who did not like football understood its power and its reach.  Being present at the grounds on match day was not so different from having a youtube channel today.  In the times of the Spanish Civil war, Spain was split.  Because Madrid was the capital team, it has always been associated with the Franco regime.  As such, clubs like Barcelona and Athletic Club represented Catalonia and the Basque countries.  Catalonia and Basque countries wanted their languages, culture, and identities to be recognized by Spain. However, Franco’s Spain was based on centralization and ethnic, cultural and linguistic homogenization.  General Franco closely associated himself with his capital’s team and it was an effective way to reach his supporters and spread his influence.  Real Madrid became a dominant continental and global powerhouse, dominating the European Cup competitions, enabling General Franco to portray Spain to the world as Real Madrid was portrayed. Still today, Real Madrid versus Barcelona represents Catalan dissent from Spain.  

     Fast forward to 2017.  Gerard Pique and Sergio Ramos are teammates on the Spanish National Team.  Together they have won the World and European Championships.  However, Ramos was born in Seville and plays for Real Madrid and Pique is a Catalan, born in Barcelona and playing for FC Barcelona from the youth teams all the way to the first team.  Using Twitter as a platform, Pique routinely supported Catalan independence and communicated his support for peaceful expression during and until Spanish elections.  At the time, Pique’s tweets were favorited by 79,000 people and 50,000 people were commenting on them.  In a subsequent interview, Ramos stated that "Pique's tweet is not the best if you don't want them to whistle”, referring to Spanish fans jeering the Catalan player.  Ramos also stated "Maybe the tweet is not the best for the group either but everyone is free to say what they think."  Both Ramos and Pique can be considered opinion leaders on football, Spanish football, and the state of Spanish affairs.  Additionally, as a Catalan and due to his popularity, Pique is able to influence his followers into considering his views on Catalan independence. 

     Ok, let's leave Spain for a bit and talk about some other social media topics.  In 2016, 13 of the 15 most followed athletes on Instagram were footballers.  What’s more, footballers were the top 13 of that 15.  The total combined reach of those 13 footballers was 377.3 million, with a 29 million average.  That combined total exceeds the population of every country in the world except for India and China.  On his own, Cristiano Ronaldo has more Instagram followers than the total population of 213 countries.  At the beginning of 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo had the third most followed account on the Instagram platform, behind only Instagram’s account and Selena Gomez.  So, what does that mean? 

     Firstly, it means that in today’s world, the professional footballer can reach millions of people on a personal level.  People can overcome all traditional barriers between themselves and the stars.  In the past, footballers could only really reach a lot of people with their actions on the field, or in controlled press conference settings through television.  As it turns out, people care what players have to say and the players themselves are uniquely positioned as opinion leaders to reach masses.  When it comes to football, it turns out that the most sought after and valued opinions are from footballers themselves.  Case in point, how many former players are now analysts?  How many players share their opinions on social media?  The answer is a lot.  The ESPN FC analyst team is made almost entirely of former players (mostly high-profile ones at that) with the odd journalist and broadcaster sprinkled in.  These individuals are not simply commentators, they all have varied footballing experiences and each one is not afraid to interject their opinions and influence those who would listen. Furthermore, the social media has empowered footballers.  Gerard Pique once stated in an interview that if he never did another television interview nothing would happen.  Players are empowered to control what they share, when they share, and what is asked of them. Bottom line, they do not need the media.  And that may not be such a bad thing.  Probably one of the coolest aspects of footballers on social media is watching them interact with each other.  It is not secret that footballers are not all friends with each other.  Many of them know each other, they have surely faced each other many times.  There is so much focus on social media giving fans access to players, but players also have access to each other.  During the 2014 World Cup, Former England International and Manchester United Player (working as a BBC pundit) was watching the final group stage match between Croatia and Mexico.  After being impressed with Mexico’s Hector Herrera, Ferdinand tweeted the following: “If I'm a manager right now&needed a midfielder who isn't going to cost a bomb Mexico's Herrera would be top of the shopping list! Impressive”.  During the tournament the tweet went on to be retweeted 2,000 times and favorited over 1,200 times.  Such praise coming from a decorated player such as Rio Ferdinand, an England and Man U legend really, shows how social media can be used by opinion leaders to share and influence.  Although probably unrelated, Herrera’s club FC Porto held firm to the 40 million valuation of their player.  If he had Ferdinand’s endorsement, surely he was worth that.  During the 2018 World Cup, Brazil’s Neymar was widely blasted for his extreme exaggerations and play acting to receive fouls.  During Brazil’s round of 16 match between Mexico, Neymar found himself getting stepped on by Miguel Layun, who had become tired of Neymar’s antics.  After Brazil’s eventual (of course) victory, Layun told an interviewer "This is football. If he does not want to be touched he should try doing something else. He is more concerned about being on the floor. If he wants to lie down, he should go home and sleep." Neymar responded by saying that the Mexicans talked too much and that now they are going home.  After Brazil were subsequently taken to task by Belgium, Mexico’s captain Andres Guardado posted an Instagram story that said “And now who’s going home”? 

     At the end of the day, regardless of what your trade is, or whether or not you like football, social media will have an effect on the world you live in.  Footballers are just one example of opinion leaders who have taken to social media to spread their gospels.  If statistics are indication, they just might be a better at it than anybody.