Analytics FAQ

SkullSparks compiles and shares a wide range of college athletics social media analytics throughout the year. View full background information here in our FAQ. | Analytics Main

Why does SkullSparks share analytics?
College athletics programs and fanbases are unique with different priorities. Every team however is interested in maximizing the return on resources devoted to social media. Analytics assist in identifying effective strategies and recognizing trends.

What are your sources?
SkullSparks utilizes CrowdTangle for Instagram and Facebook analytics (Facebook acquired CrowdTangle in November 2016). We utilize Opendorse for Twitter analytics.

How are team accounts verified?
SkullSparks creates and maintains our own lists of official Instagram and Facebook team accounts within CrowdTangle. These are organized by sport, by conference. and by other criteria. We individually verify the authenticity of each official account. We also cross-check using information from official team websites. For Twitter, Opendorse maintains official lists of team accounts organized by sport. SkullSparks works with Opendorse to verify official accounts.

What if our account is wrong or missing?
Please DM @SkullSparks or email info@skullsparks.com with your information. We’ll promptly investigate.

What if an account shows zero interactions?
If a team chooses not to maintain an official account on a particular social platform, it will show zero interactions. Our analytics partners can also only pull data from accounts that are fully public. For example, “likes” must be enabled on Instagram and Facebook pages must not be geo-gated, age-gated or custom in audience whatsoever.

Why is a certain sport or level not included?
We publicly share analytics in the course of our work for client teams. We monitor thousands of official college athletics social media accounts and must prioritize our resources.

What is a “Main Athletics” account?
Individual college sports have specific official accounts on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook while an official main Athletics account represents the overall Athletics Department. For example, the @Vol_Football Twitter account represents Tennessee football while the @Vol_Sports account represents the overall Tennessee Athletics Department and its 14+ sports.

Know the difference between main college athletics department social media accounts and sport-specific accounts. Thanks @MiamiHurricanes for serving as our example. pic.twitter.com/nqp6V6CG21

— SkullSparks (@SkullSparks) September 2, 2020

What counts as an interaction?
Definitions set by CrowdTangle and Opendorse:
Instagram: like, comment
Twitter: like, retweet
Facebook: reaction, comment, share

Know what counts as an "interaction" on each social media platform in our analytics. Definitions are set by @crowdtangle (for Instagram, Facebook) and @opendorse (Twitter). pic.twitter.com/1pZRr5hrnU

— SkullSparks (@SkullSparks) September 2, 2020

What content is counted?
An interaction is only counted on original posts or tweets made by the account. For example, interactions are not recorded for re-tweets of content from other accounts.

Are interactions from Stories or Reels counted?
CrowdTangle does not track ephemeral content like Instagram Stories nor does it track Reels. More…

Are video views included?
Facebook and Instagram video views are not counted in total interactions. More…

Are interactions the same as reach or impressions?
No. Interactions are likes, comments, reactions, shares or RTs of content. Reach is the unique number of people who saw a post at least once (this is not tracked). Impressions are the number of times a post was seen (this is not tracked). For example, if one person sees a post three times and likes it, and comments on it, the number of interactions = 2, reach = 1, and impressions = 3.

Why are interactions important?
We believe college athletics digital and design should inspire stakeholders (recruits, fans, donors) to action. If someone interacts with content by liking, commenting or sharing, we believe this demonstrates a higher degree of effectiveness for the content. We recognize that many variables impact interaction but this is the best indication we can generate from analytics.

What other variables impact interactions?
Beyond great digital strategy and content designed to inspire interactions, it’s important to recognize additional variables impact interaction numbers: team performance, number of games, audience size, access, sharing of content by high-profile followers, limits placed on content by coaching staffs or admin, competition in market, controversy and other external factors.

How important are follower counts?
We prioritize interactions. Some accounts have amassed large follower counts and we do believe there is a degree of importance to audience size. But there are many variables involved and we’re interested in recognizing content that resonates regardless of follower count.

How do you calculate average interactions per post/tweet?
We examine a specific time period (week, month, year) and determine total number of posts/tweets by accounts. We then divide the total number of interactions generated during that time period by total number of posts/tweets to arrive at average interactions generated per post/tweet.

Why do you round numbers?
For clarity and to keep infographics concise, we regularly round to the nearest thousand. Any number 500+ is rounded up to the next thousand. For example, 23,502 would be shown as 24k while 23,479 would be 23k. We often include additional charts with detailed data including specific numbers for further analysis.

How do we know your data is accurate?
You don’t trust us? Seriously, many teams have access to the same data from the same analytics partners. If we share something inaccurate, we hear about it and promptly update. Beyond that, we’re a business and every team is a potential client. It’s in our best interest to generate trust in our numbers.