DALSportsNation
In ongoing news, Elon Musk is setting his sights on clearing fake/spam accounts off Twitter, but how could this affect Texas’ biggest sports teams online?

By running a fake follower audit, Gambling.com reveals which teams are at the most significant risk and have the highest percentage of fake followers.

The Dallas Cowboys could lose the most followers, with an estimated 1.89 million at risk.


Texas Twitter
Photo: TechCrunch

In April, Elon Musk stated he would “die trying” in the fight to eradicate Twitter from spam accounts. With Musk’s recent acquisition of Twitter, there has been continuing news surrounding the plans, but how could this affect Texas’ biggest sports teams’ social media profiles?

Using SparkToro’s fake follower audit, the guys at Gambling.com have ranked which Texas sports teams could be the worst hit.

The Cowboys Set to Take the Biggest Hit on Twitter              

With the highest overall follower count, it’s the Cowboys who are set to be the most affected by Musk’s crackdown on fake accounts.

With a fake follower percentage of 43.9%, the Cowboys could see a decline in around 1.89 million followers on Twitter, leaving them on a slightly less impressive 2.42 million.


The table below shows each team in order of the number of followers potentially lost:

#TeamNumber of FollowersFake Follower PercentageNumber of Fake Followers
1Dallas Cowboys4,309,00043.9%1,892,000
2San Antonio Spurs3,525,00040.6%1,431,000
3Houston Rockets3,240,00040.0%1,296,000
4Houston Texans1,955,00050.7%991,000
5Dallas Mavericks2,153,30038.2%823,000
6Houston Astros1,794,00044.6%800,000
7Texas Rangers1,444,00043.9%634,000
8Dallas Stars1,115,00044.2%493,000

While it makes sense that teams with a higher following are likely to lose more followers from Musk’s plans, where does each team rank based on their percentage of fake followers?


Coming at the top is the NFL’s Houston Texans. Whilst they are 4th in line for the number of fake accounts (991,000), they sit top of the scoreboard with a grand total of 50.7% of fake followers.

Out of the eight teams, it’s only the Dallas Mavericks who don’t creep into the 40% mark, with their fake follower percentage scoring 38.2%.


The table below shows each team in order of their percentage of fake followers:

#TeamNumber of FollowersPercentage of Fake FollowersNumber of Fake Followers
1Houston Texans1,955,00050.7%991,000
2Houston Astros1,794,00044.6%800,000
3Dallas Stars1,115,00044.2%493,000
4Dallas Cowboys4,309,00043.9%1,892,000
5Texas Rangers1,444,00043.9%634,000
6San Antonio Spurs3,525,00040.6%1,431,000
7Houston Rockets3,240,00040.0%1,296,000
8Dallas Mavericks2,153,30038.2%823,000

So, how would each team’s follower number change if plans go ahead?

#TeamNumber of FollowersNew Follow Number
1Dallas Cowboys4,309,0002,418,000
2San Antonio Spurs3,525,0002,094,000
3Houston Rockets3,240,0001,944,000
4Dallas Mavericks2,153,3001,331,000
5Houston Astros1,794,000994,000
6Houston Texans1,955,000964,000
7Texas Rangers1,444,000810,000
8Dallas Stars1,115,000622,000

Methodology

To collect the data, Gambling.com ran the Twitter accounts of Texas’ major league sports teams through SparkToro’s fake follower audit tool. This took a sample of 2,000 random followers and ran diagnostics found to strongly correlate with these types of fake followers (bots, spam accounts, inactive users, propaganda, or other non-engaged/non-real users).

Data accurate as of 9th November 2022.


Featured Image: TechCrunch
Comments are closed.

Check Also

Gray Dazzles as Rangers blank M’s 2-0 to Open Home Stand

After a 6-3 road trip which included stops in Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Detroit, the Rang…