Super Bowl Predictions

With social media buzz playing a larger role in determining marketing trends, it is no surprise that it is being used to determine chance events such as this weekend’s Super Bowl winner. Infegy, a social media analysis company, has collected data since 2008 on Internet chatter pertaining to Super Bowl teams. During the month of January, Internet buzz on teams most discussed was collected and analyzed for trends. What were the findings? In the last four years, the Super Bowl team that was most mentioned or discussed ended up being the Vince Lombardi trophy winner.

Is this a coincidence or does more buzz translate to more wins? According to CEO Justin Graves, the buzz doesn’t necessarily determine the win. Rather, people are more likely to be talking about teams that they believe are going to be victorious. As a result, this creates more buzz for that particular team.

Well, what does that mean for this year’s Super Bowl predictions? Unfortunately, the social media buzz for both teams is marginal—12.28% and 12.02% for both Green Bay and Pittsburgh, respectively. The buzz, alone, isn’t enough for Infegy to make a prediction. This, however, did not stop Graves from making a prediction. Analyzing the data even further, Infegy delved into the sentiment behind the online buzz and found that 78% of the chatter revolving around the Packers was positive. Comparatively speaking, Pittsburgh only received 69% positive feedback. If this theory about buzz is true, Green Bay is going to be very happy Sunday evening.

Hopefully this growing importance of social media can find a way to reverse the reason for dwindling Internet discussion around the big game, which is down a full 26% from last year.

(via Mashable)

Written by: Sam Moe