FC Barcelona, the best sports club in the world on social networks according to StarCount

In a universe of 1.5 billion people connected to social networks, FC Barcelona was named the 2012 best sports team on social networks at The Social Star Awards 2012. This Thursday, at a gala in Singapore, organised by StarCount, Barça was awarded the highest web 2.0 recognition. StarCount measures the popularity of individuals, companies and institutions on networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Tencent Weibo, Sina Weibo, Ren Ren, Vkontakte, Youku and Mixi. The criteria for selecting winners was not only based on the numbers of followers on these platforms, but engagement as well, in other words, user loyalty and interaction with the brand was also taken into account.

Barça has the most successful sports brand on social networks in the world -ahead of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Chelsea- and the 15th most successful brand on the globe, according to StarCount, the only organisation that maintains a global ranking of personal and institutional brands on social networks.

Dídac Lee, FC Barcelona’s director of New Technologies, said, “being recognised as the best club in the world in the management of social networks is a privilege, especially considering that the vote is in the hands of the users and they base their vote on both quantitative and qualitative data.” Lee added: “from FC Barcelona, we want to thank the millions of people that give us confidence and give us their support. We’re committed to keep on working to extend the Azulgrana feeling throughout the world through new technology and social media.”

Other winners at the Social Star Awards 2012 gala: the smartphone game Angry Birds, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, the singer Lady Gaga, the actor Jackie Chan, the television show The Simpsons and the Harry Potter movie series.

Barça’s global leadership

FC Barcelona is the world leader on the most prominent social networks of the globe. On Facebook, Barça has nearly 32 million fans while on Twitter the Club has 9.6 million followers. On the leading Chinese social network, Tencent Weibo, Barça has 1.2 millions fans and on Google+ there are over 1.4 million Azulgrana fans. On YouTube, Barça’s channel is the most subscribed to in Spain and it’s one of the most viewed football channels in Europe.