I was on Twitter recently and noticed that LeBron James has 29 million followers. I thought to myself, “Wow, that’s impressive.” And honestly, that’s because it is. LeBron has five times as many followers as the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and New York Knicks combined. He also has one million more followers than One Direction. Do you know how many Twitter followers the Major League Baseball NL MVP has? His name is Bryce Harper, and he has 600,000.
Social media is run by millennials. Literally. The owners of Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are millennials. It should be concerning to the MLB that Bryce Harper, a 23-year-old baseball superstar and one of the faces of their league, has fewer followers than Tyson Chandler, an aging NBA journeyman. Yes, Tyson Chandler, the same guy averaging 6 points a game for the Phoenix Suns (current record: 20-51), has more followers on Twitter than the MLB MVP.
And this isn’t just exclusive to Twitter. It’s on Instagram and Facebook, too. In terms of followers, MLB players fall way behind NBA and NFL players on all of the social networks. Even PGA superstar Jordan Spieth has roughly 140,000 more followers on Instagram than Bryce Harper. Yup, golf.
Followers on social media: The equation seems too simple to draw a conclusion like this, right? Well, it makes a lot of sense. Followers or “likes” measure interest, and millennials are the most active generation on social media. On Twitter, 29 million people are interested in LeBron James and his content. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of interest in Bryce Harper or Major League Baseball. As a fan, I hope that changes.
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