Manchester United have surpassed Barcelona and Real Madrid to become the world’s most popular club on social media.
The Red Devils are now the most popular club on social media thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo joining Manchester United last summer.
According to analysts, Manchester United have seen engagement with their social media content, such as shares, likes and comments, almost double to more than two billion interactions in just 12 months, even though they suffered on the pitch.
Ronaldo has a huge presence on social media – 465 million on Instagram, 151 million on Facebook and 101 million on Twitter – and experts have credited him for the remarkable upturn in Manchester United’s online fortunes.
Of the 25 most popular posts put out by Premier League clubs last season, 10 related to Ronaldo and the top three were all about the superstar striker.
At United, total engagements with social media posts increased from 1.1bn in the season before Ronaldo arrived to more than 2bn, last term, with each post generating 75,000 interactions on average, according to Conviva.
Manchester United have 170million followers on social media which lags behind Real Madrid at 281 followers and Barcelona at 267 followers.
However, while Manchester United had more than 2billion engagements on social media last season, Barcelona enjoyed 1.6bn engagements last season and Real Madrid 1.4bn.
As a result, the Red Devils have become the most popular club on social media worldwide, soaring above Barcelona and Real Madrid for the first time, in terms of engagement.