Trending: Soccer & social media, Finals

June, 21, 2012
6/21/12
11:03
AM ET
By Bill Speros | Special to ESPN.com
Cristiano RonaldoGetty ImagesNo matter what Cristiano Ronaldo does at Euro 2012, people will be watching. And Tweeting.
The influence of Euro 2012 has proliferated across social media, with Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) being the dominant star with more than 10 million followers on Twitter.

The analysts at Peoplebrowsr/Kred.com note that the most Euro 2012 social media traffic is in the United States, Canada, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Ronaldo has roughly double the Twitter followers as LeBron James. Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney have almost the same Kred influence score despite the difference in their followers. Here's a breakdown of the top players, as the knockout stages begin Thursday:


UEFA EURO 2012 ON TWITTER


The top 10 Euro 2012 players on Twitter. (Numbers as of Wednesday.)

Name, country Twitter handle Influence Outreach Followers
Cristiano Ronaldo, POR @Cristiano998510,683,392
Wayne Rooney, ENG@WayneRooney99654,372,851
Cesc Fabregas, SPA@cesc4official99643,439,417
Gerard Pique, SPA@3gerardpique99043,174,044
Sergio Ramos, SPA@SergioRamos99042,398,567
Robin van Persie, NED@Persie_Official99041,761,887
Andres Iniesta, SPA@andresiniesta898513,506,405
Xabi Alonso, SPA@XabiAlonso98332,471,505
Samir Nasri, FRA@SamNasri199833859,086
Nani, POR@luisnani97331,255,697

(Note: Kred scores are calculated on a 1,000-point scale, based on @replies, retweets, followers and other factors. Outreach is based on generosity in engaging with others.)


Game 5 of the NBA Finals is Thursday night in Miami. Enough said:



Pat Williams was 29 when he became general manager of the Chicago Bulls. And the Magic's first general manager certainly can relate to Orlando's newest GM, who is all of 30:



The Tampa Bay Rays are going turning back the clock (click here for Paul Lukas' take), and the 1970s never looked so Seventies:



The annual NHL awards were presented in Las Vegas on Wednesday, and the salutations from rivals echoed across Twitter:



And from backups (who managed to keep their tweets clean despite what was said from the podium):




It's (almost) summer vacation time:



These New England Patriots rookies brought some veteran smiles to the patients at Boston Children's Hospital:



Elsewhere:

• LeBron James' "Cramp Game" didn't impress everyone who has had to play through pain; just ask these NHL players. (San Francisco Chronicle)

• It appears Nationals manager Davey Johnson got the upper hand in his war of words with Joe Maddon following Joel Peralta's "Pine Tar" ejection. (Call To The Pen)

If you see any offbeat newsy links or interesting items from your favorite sports site or Twitter that might be of interest to others, pass them along to me at bsperos1@gmail.com or tweet them to me at @BillSperos.
Tags:

Celebrities, NFL, Hockey, nhl, Soccer, nba, Baseball, Basketball, Twitter, Football, Europe, MLB, NFL, football, NHL, Twitter, baseball, social media, New England Patriots, Major League Baseball, Reggie Bush, Cristiano Ronaldo, euro 2012, Wayne Rooney, NHL Awards, lebon james, tampa bay rays

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