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The growth of college men’s volleyball on social media expanded exponentially during the most recent season.
A recent Off the Block study of NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball social media accounts revealed that the amount teams with at least 1,000 Twitter followers has more than doubled since the start of the 2014 season.
Five teams — UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, Loyola and Penn State — each achieved the social media milestone during the most recent college men’s volleyball season. These schools also join BYU, Ohio State, Ball State and Stanford, which all reached the 1,000 follower milestone before the start of the season.
BYU continues to lead the nation with 3,738 followers. The MPSF champion Cougars also added a nation-best 1,085 followers since Off the Block’s preseason social media report near the start of the season.
Along with BYU, Stanford and UCLA both jumped into second and third place for the nation’s most media followers among college men’s volleyball teams. In addition, Ohio State and Ball State round-out the top five.
Outside of the top five, Penn State led the EIVA with 1,023 followers, while Mount Olive had a Conference Carolinas-best 519 followers.
Every college men’s volleyball team on Twitter added followers throughout the 2014 season. In addition, 13 schools added at least 300 new Twitter followers.
The NCAA champions Loyola finished behind BYU for the second greatest growth on Twitter adding 758 followers. Penn State finished third with 608 new Twitter followers and UCLA came in fourth place at 597 new followers.
Despite the majority of teams having a presence on Twitter, 12 Division I-II men’s volleyball teams do not have a Twitter account. Several of those teams, though, have some presence on Twitter with the school’s main athletics department Twitter account tweeting about the team.
NCAA Division I-II men’s volleyball teams on Twitter
1. BYU (@BYUvolleyball): 3,738 followers
2. Stanford (@StanfordMVB): 1,585 followers
3. UCLA (@UCLAMensVB): 1,575 followers
4. Ohio State (@OhioState_MVB): 1,488 followers
5. Ball State (@BallStateMVB): 1,468 followers
6. USC (@USCmensvolley): 1,342 followers
7. UC Irvine (@UCIMVB): 1,297 followers
8. Loyola (@LUMVB): 1,277 followers
9. Penn State (@PennStateMVBALL): 1,023 followers
10. Lewis (@LewisMVBall): 940 followers
11. Pepperdine (@PepperdineMVB): 891 followers
12. Long Beach State (@LBSU_MVB): 803 followers
13. Princeton (@PrincetonVolley): 758 followers
14. Mount Olive (@MOCMVB): 519 followers
15. Pacific (@PacificMenVball): 486 followers
16. Lindenwood (@LindenwoodVB): 427 followers*
17. Hawai’i (@HawaiiMensVB) — 380 followers
18. Harvard (@HarvardMVB): 266 followers
19. Rutgers-Newark (@RUNVolleyball): 263 followers*
20. Quincy (@QUMVB): 241 followers
21. Limestone (@LimestoneMVB): 210 followers
22. Cal State Northridge (@CSUNMensVB): 209 followers
23. Belmont Abbey (@Crusader_MVB): 208 followers
24. St. Francis (@SaintFrancisMVB) — 159 followers
25. Barton (@BartonVB) — 144 followers*
26. Sacred Heart (@SHUMVB) — 112 followers
27. McKendree (@MCKMVB) — 102 followers
Teams without official Twitter account: Cal Baptist, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, Grand Canyon, IPFW, George Mason, NJIT, Lees-McRae, Erskine, King, Coker, Pfeiffer
Twitter follower growth since start of season
1. BYU — +1,085
2. Loyola — +758
3. Penn State — +608
4. UCLA — +597
5. Stanford — +543
6. USC — +440
7. Pepperdine — +423
8. UC Irvine — +402
9. Ohio State — +391
10. Ball State — +381
11. Hawai’i — +380
12. Long Beach State — +302
13. Princeton — +300
14. Lewis — +275
15. Harvard — +266
16. Cal State Northridge — +209
17. Mount Olive — +191
18. St. Francis — +159
19. Pacific — +155
20. McKendree — +102
21. Sacred Heart — +96
22. Belmont Abbey — +93
23. Barton — +89
24. Quincy — +88
25. Rutgers-Newark — +77
26. Limestone — +73
27. Lindenwood — +69
*Indicates joint Twitter account for school’s men’s and women’s volleyball teams.
Twitter follower numbers as of May 11
Twitter follower preseason numbers as of Dec. 28