@Patriots vs. @Seahawks: your #SB49 experience on Twitter

Thursday, 29 January 2015

The #NFL will crown a champion this Sunday when the Seattle @Seahawks look to defend their @SuperBowl title against the New England @Patriots. Twitter is your home for all the news before, during and after #SB49.

Join the #SB49 conversation

Our Super Bowl #SB49 timeline makes it easy to get in the game. With it you can see Super Bowl-related Tweets from players, teams, media members, celebrities, fans and people in your network, plus the live score on game day. To see this timeline, search for or tap on #SB49, #SuperBowl or #NFL within Twitter. The timeline is available now on the Twitter app for iPhone and Android and twitter.com (to get it, make sure you have the latest version of the Twitter app).

Jump into the conversation – before, during and after the game – by using the official game hashtag with your Tweets: #SB49.

@Patriots vs. @Seahawks: your #SB49 experience on Twitter

You’ll also want to follow @NFL, the league’s official account, for the latest news around the game. With help from Draft Kings (@DraftKings), Ford (@FordTrucks), Pizza Hut (@pizzahut), and Disney (@DisneyPictures), passionate fans won’t miss a top replay during #SB49. @NFL will be Tweeting the best highlights immediately following the plays, so stay close to the feed for live video updates.

To get you in the mood, check out this highlight of the game-winning score in overtime from the NFC Championship:

In addition, @Vine will launch a channel on game day that lets you experience the Super Bowl and related moments right from your phone. You’ll see Vines from the stadium grounds of the event itself, videos from your favorite Viners and more videos from fans all around the world.

Follow the teams and players

@Seahawks partisans can dive into the convo with fellow #12s using any of several hashtags, most notably the #ImIn rallying cry from Seattle’s playoff run. The Seahawks also published this handy hashtag guide.

You can follow and find great content from Seattle players like Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson), Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) and Doug Baldwin @DougBaldwinJr) via this player list.



Fans of the @Patriots can use their playoff-run hashtag #DoYourJob among others, including #PatriotsNation, to chat with fellow Pats supporters on Twitter.


Follow and stay connected to the Pats players too, including Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski), Vince Wilfork (@wilfork75) and Legarrette Blount (@LG_Blount).



Official broadcaster

You already know why Twitter is the perfect complement to watching the game live on NBC, which is the official #SB49 broadcast partner. You won’t be surprised to hear that NBC has big plans on Twitter, too.

For example, @SNFonNBC will provide real-time news and photos from Phoenix as well as #MySuperBowlPick content from celebrities. @ProFootballTalk and @NBCSports will post news and information on the game, and behind-the-scenes content from PFT Live.

Using a Twitter Mirror, players have already made their #SB49 picks live on “PFT Live”.


And there’s this: Arizona Cardinals defensive back Patrick Peterson (@RealPeterson21) has been serving as NBC Sports Group’s social media correspondent during Super Bowl week. On Tuesday, he filmed several videos around the city, including this gem:

Halftime show

The Pepsi (@Pepsi) Super Bowl Halftime Show is always one of the most-Tweeted moments of the big game. This year’s performance will be headlined by the most-followed pop star on Twitter: Katy Perry (@KatyPerry). Lenny Kravitz (@LennyKravitz) will also make a special appearance alongside her.

Media day

On Tuesday, both teams and players participated in the annual Super Bowl #MediaDay. This collection showcases a snapshot of Tweets from players, teams and the league:

Earlier that day, we announced that Twitter users can now shoot, edit and share video right from the platform. The @Seahawks and @Patriots jumped right in to engage with fans:



@Patriots vs. @Seahawks

What if Twitter itself were to decide the outcome of Sunday’s game? Click on the image below to explore this data visualization that highlights the most-mentioned #SB49 players on Twitter and top #NFL related Tweets since the season began last September. Click on the left to see how popular the players were on Twitter each week of the season; the colored bar shows which team was more discussed overall in the given time period. And scroll on the bottom to see a snapshot of #NFL related tweets from each week.

@Patriots vs. @Seahawks: your #SB49 experience on TwitterClick image to explore interactive data viz

As you can see, the @Patriots would just narrowly beat the @Seahawks if it were up to Twitter mentions.

These @Patriots players garnered the most Twitter mentions this season:

  1. Tom Brady
  2. Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski)
  3. Julian Edelman (@Edelman11)
  4. LeGarrette Blount (@LG_Blount)
  5. Darrelle Revis (@Revis24)

And here are the @Seahawks’ most-mentioned players on Twitter this season:

  1. MarShawn Lynch (@MoneyLynch)
  2. Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson)
  3. Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25)
  4. Kam Chancellor (@Kam_Chancellor)
  5. Earl Thomas (@Earl_Thomas)

You can also check out this head-to-head matchup on our #NFL fan follower map, which compares where the @Patriots and @Seahawks each have the biggest density of followers across the U.S.

@Patriots vs. @Seahawks: your #SB49 experience on Twitter

Click image to explore interactive data viz

Check back here Sunday night when we recap how the game played out on the field and, of course, on Twitter.