Dana Hunsinger Benbow, dana.benbow@indystar.comAs Tom Crean and his Indiana University basketball team battled Wichita State in the NCAA tournament, fans inside the CenturyLink center in Omaha tweeted, Facebooked and Instagrammed away.By game's end, IU had fallen to Wichita State 81-76.By game's end, IU had fallen to Wichita State 59-41 when it came to another score -- social media.Of all the Twitter frenzy that happened inside that arena during the game, 59 percent revolved around Wichita State while 41 percent was IU centered.Could it be that the amount of tweets and social media activity by fans can determine who will win the game?Of course not. Though plenty of superstitious fans may like to think so as they send out those 140-character-or-less cheers, boos and game analyses.
Indianapolis-Geofeedia created geofences around the NCAA tournament sites and the campuses of the teams to capture just how all that social media activity went down.In the end, the teams who won the games on the court also often came out on top in social media scores.That only makes sense."When a team is winning, people are more likely to be talking about their team," said Karen Hopp, with Geofeedia, a location-based social media monitoring company.After all, who wants to send out a Facebook pic of a scoreboard that shows the team you're rooting for is falling behind?And, no doubt, the bragging outweighs the moaning as a game plays out. So the team who ultimately wins often ends up with the most mentions. At least, that's what GeoFeedia found.But it also found something else. Social media is taking over the sports world.There was a 547 percent increase in social media activity at Lucas Oil Stadium during this year's Final Four (based on location tagged posts) compared to 2014's Final Four.Geofeedia -- with its sophisticated monitoring of social media -- which isn't based on hashtags but on location and specific team, player and arena mentions, found out plenty of other interesting facts.DUKE VS WISCONSINIn the championship game, a strange social media occurrence happened inside Lucas Oil Stadium. Wisconsin's in-stadium social media activity beat out Duke at 56 percent. Though Duke, of course, ended up winning that game.When it came to the two coaches, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski sealed the social media win against Wisconsin's Bo Ryan by a long shot. It was his fifth NCAA title.
And of all the players competing in the final game, Wisconsin's Frank Kaminsky received the most social media mentions.
INDIANA TEAM SOCIAL MEDIA SCORESPurdue vs. CincinnatiPurdue lost the game in Louisville and in social media.67 percent Cincinnati33 percent Purdue
Butler vs. TexasButler won the game in Pittsburgh and in social media.58 percent Butler42 percent Texas
Second Round:Butler vs. Notre DameNotre Dame won the game in Cleveland and in social media54 percent Notre Dame46 percent Butler
Sweet 16:Notre Dame vs. Wichita StateNotre Dame won the game in Cleveland and in social meida71 percent Notre Dame29 percent Wichita StateElite 8:Notre Dame vs. KentuckyKentucky won the game in Cleveland, but tied in social media50 percent Notre Dame50 percent KentuckyFollow Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow.