July 1, 2010
IOWA CITY, Iowa — The official Facebook fan page for University of Iowa Department of Intercollegiate Athletics – facebook.com/hawkeyesports – recently became only the fourth among its peers in the Big Ten Conference to reach 100,000 fans who have registered to receive updates on their personal Facebook page.
The current number of Facebook users who “like” the Iowa Hawkeyes Facebook page is 103,503. That total ranks fourth among Big Ten institutions whose athletics department’s offer a connection to their program through the world’s most popular social media site.
“We live in a digital world. News and information now circles the globe in seconds. Facebook is just one of the many tools we use to communicate directly and interact with friends and fans of the University of Iowa and the Iowa Hawkeyes,” said Rick Klatt, associate athletics director for external affairs.
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“We live in a digital world. News and information now circles the globe in seconds. Facebook is just one of the many tools we use to communicate directly and interact with friends and fans of the University of Iowa and the Iowa Hawkeyes.”
Rick Klatt, Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs
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“This achievement is even more impressive when you consider the fact that a core source of visitors to our web sites and users of social media sites is the people who live in Iowa and, of course, our state’s population is dwarfed by many of our peers.”
Fans of the Hawkeyes who like the Iowa Hawkeyes’ Facebook page receive an update each time editorial content is added to hawkeyesports.com, the official world wide web site of the Iowa Hawkeyes, and when content is added to the Hawkeyes’ Facebook site directly by members of the department’s communications staff.
Facebook then provides fans the opportunity to discuss the latest news about all 24 of the intercollegiate athletics programs at the UI. They also participate in fan polls, learn about special promotions from the Athletics Ticket Office, and receive information on programs such as the Junior Hawk Club.
The Hawkeyes’ Facebook page also links fans to other important pages related to the University of Iowa, including pages for the Big Ten Conference, the University of Iowa Office of Admissions, the Big Ten Network, the Iowa Hawks Nest student group, and sport-specific University of Iowa pages.
The United States is home to 100,863 of the current UI Facebook fans. The page also has fans who live as close as Canada and Mexico, and as far away as Japan, Italy, Australia and India.
More than 13,000 fans call the greater Chicago area home. The Des Moines region is the next largest home of followers with more than 7,000 fans.
“It should come as no surprise that the site is most popular among younger fans,” said Katie Mahnke, a member of the UI’s marketing staff who manages the day-to-day operation of the department’s presence on Facebook.
According to Mahnke, 71 percent of the fans of the Hawkeyes’ Facebook page are between the ages of 13 and 34. Another 17 percent are between the ages of 35 and 44.
“We are always looking for ways to connect with our fans and Facebook is one of the more effective ways to accomplish that, particularly with our younger fans,” said Mahnke, who also helps to manage the content that appears on the department’s Twitter page.
BIG TEN CONFERENCE
Facebook “Fans”
The following lists the top five Big Ten Conference Facebook sites ranked by the number of visitors who “like this page.” In parentheses is the state population according to estimates made in 2009 by the United States Census Bureau.
1 – Ohio State, 330,089 (11,542,645)
2 – Michigan, 167,744 * (9,969,727)
3 – Wisconsin, 117,194 (5,654,774)
4 – Iowa, 103,503 (3,007,856)
5 – Michigan State, 90,869 (9,969,727)