NBA declares itself the first sports league to breach one billion likes and followers
The NBA has claimed it is the first professional sports league to breach one billion likes and follows across its social media platforms and those of its players and teams.
Strewn across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram along with Tencent and Sina Weibo in China, the association has accumulated over one billion followers.
The US basketball association measures its own social media output as 28.5 million likes on the league’s Facebook page, 19.5 million @NBA followers on Twitter, and 12.7 million @NBA followers on Instagram.
With 90 per cent of the league’s players having at least one social media account, the remaining likes are widely dispersed across the network.
The top five NBA players on social media are the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant, the Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade, and the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony
Looking to encourage the growth last season, the NBA was the first professional sports league to include its social media handle on its official game ball.