Can Social Media Predict the NFL Draft?

Sam Laird2013-04-23 23:45:28 UTC

With weeks of speculation, rumor-mongering and paranoid misinformation leaks, the NFL Draft is riddled by smoke screens and uncertainty.

But what if social media holds all the true answers?

That's the premise of some algorithmic number-crunching done by the online marketing company iProspect. The firm tracked mentions on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, message boards and other platforms of the draft's top prospects. It kept tabs on which players were mentioned the most with which teams, then matched those results up to the NFL's draft order to project the first 10 players selected.

The results of what this year's draft should look like are presented in the infographic below. The study shows the Kansas City Chiefs taking offensive lineup Luke Joeckel first overall, followed by quarterback Geno Smith going to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Defensive lineman Star Lotulelei rounds out the top 10.

But before you scoff at how accurate the methodology could be, consider this: iProspect ran a test using mentions of last year's top prospects in the weeks leading up to the 2012 NFL Draft. Those social predictions, the company says, correctly placed six of the top 10 picks, with the remaining four projections each being off by just one place.

Check out the full infographic below and let us know what you think in the comments.

Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

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