For Sports Stars, Instagram Dominates in Photo Engagement

Sam Laird2013-04-20 20:27:08 UTC

It wasn't so long ago, really, that Twitter became the go-to platform for sports stars looking to connect and interact with fans in new ways. Opinions, news, photos — athletes could share their lives with fans as never before.

That's still the case, but a comparison of photos posted by some of the sports world's biggest names reveals that onetime Twitter ally Instagram now dominates in photo-sharing engagement.

It sounds logical, given that Instagram is a photo-specific platform — and may have something to do with side effects of the two companies' increasingly hostile relationship. But a look at the data gives insight into the ever-evolving world of social media for big names.

For example, below is a photo posted recently by Kobe Bryant. It was his second Instagram post ever since joining earlier this month.

The post has since received 121,000 likes and more than 13,000 comments. Bryant has 610,000 Instagram followers, so that's a pretty high ratio. When he posted the Instagram link to Twitter (where he has 2.1 million followers), it was retweeted 12,500 times and favorited 5,300 times. On Facebook, where Bryant has 16 million fans, the post has received more than 450,000 likes.

Those high engagement numbers could have lots of explanations. A "like" is a much more passive action than retweeting a post to one's own Twitter timeline, for example. And Instagram killing its support for Twitter cards may have some effect on fans not clicking through links.

Nonetheless, the difference in engagement is interesting to note. Other Bryant posts on both Twitter and Instagram tell a similar story. Here's one in support of Boston terror victims (Twitter and Instagram), and a motivational post of a newspaper front page (Twitter and Instagram).

Global soccer star Cristano Ronaldo, meanwhile, often posts duplicate photos to Instagram and Twitter as well, but uses TwitPics instead of links to Instagram. But we see a similar story. Last weekend, for example, he posted a shot of his new signature shoe from Nike. On Instagram, where he has 750,000 followers, the photo was liked 113,000 times. On Twitter, where he has 17.5 million followers, it was retweeted 5,400 times and favorited 3,100 times.

More photo posts from the world's most famous athletes further bear out the trend. Here's Ronaldo after a big win (Instagram and Twitter), and hyping an important match (Instagram and Twitter). And here's LeBron James after a training session (Instagram and Twitter), sharing some crazy weather (Instagram and Twitter), and posting a shot from GQ magazine (Instagram and Twitter).

Why do you think sports stars see such higher photo engagement on Instagram? Let us know in the comments.

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Topics: Entertainment, instagram, Sports, Twitter if(window.pageChanged) window.omni({"channel":"entertainment","content_type":"article","top_channel":"entertainment","content_source_type":"Internal","content_source_name":"Internal","author_name":"Sam Laird","age":"0","pub_day":20,"pub_month":4,"pub_year":2013,"pub_date":"04/20/2013","isPostView":true,"post_lead_type":"Default"}); metaData = {"link":[["canonical","http://mashable.com/2013/04/20/sports-stars-instagram/"],["image_src","http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzA0LzIwL2ExL2NyaXN0aWFub3JvLjFkZjc3LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTcyMHg3MjAjCmUJanBn/37f37e57/b06/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg"]],"meta_property":[["og:url","http://mashable.com/2013/04/20/sports-stars-instagram/"],["og:title","For Sports Stars, Instagram Dominates in Photo Engagement"],["og:type","article"],["og:site_name","Mashable"],["og:image","http://rack.1.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzA0LzIwL2ExL2NyaXN0aWFub3JvLjFkZjc3LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTcyMHg3MjAjCmUJanBn/37f37e57/b06/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg"],["og:article:published_time","2013-04-20T20:27:08Z"],["og:article:modified_time","2013-04-20T20:27:18Z"]],"meta_name":[["description","Instagram has become the most engaging photo-sharing platform for sports stars, trumping other networks. Is that a no-brainer, or something more? "],["keywords",["twitter","instagram","uncategorized","entertainment","sports"]],["twitter:title","For Sports Stars, Instagram Dominates in Photo Engagement"],["twitter:description","Instagram has become the most engaging photo-sharing platform for sports stars, trumping other networks. Is that a no-brainer, or something more? "],["twitter:image","http://rack.3.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDEzLzA0LzIwL2ExL2NyaXN0aWFub3JvLjFkZjc3LmpwZwpwCXRodW1iCTU2MHg3NTAKZQlqcGc/dcaf6add/b06/cristiano-ronaldo.jpg"],["twitter:site","@mashable"],["twitter:url","http://mashable.com/2013/04/20/sports-stars-instagram/"],["twitter:creator","@mashable"],["twitter:card","photo"],["twitter:image:width","560"],["twitter:image:height","750"]],"short_url":[["short_url","http://on.mash.to/Zc8CEt"]]};

View the original article here