(11 March 2010 5:45 pm)

MUMBAI: The overall buzz about IPL in social media is almost twice as high in 2010 compared to last year, according to an analysis undertaken by The Nielsen Company.

Blogs are the most popular platform for discussing cricket, followed by message boards. Twitter is third on the list, according to the study which used Nielsen Online BuzzMetrics, measuring online posts in Message boards, Blogs, Discussion groups and Micro blogs (Twitter) across all cricket following countries.

Nielsen Online associate director Karthik Nagarajan says, "The overall increase in Buzz volume indicates the exponential growth in social media across regions".

Kolkata Night Riders (KKR) is the most discussed team online, both in 2009 and 2010. However, Kings XI Punjab has overtaken Rajasthan Royals as the second most discussed team in social media this year, followed by Deccan Chargers.

Online IPL Team Discussions measured by Nielsen BuzzMetrics

CGM Type: Groups, Boards, Micro Blogs, Blogs Time Period: 1st Dec'09 - 9th Mar'10

Amongst players, Ricky Ponting is the most discussed IPL player online, both last year and in 2010. Sachin was a distant second last year but is almost neck-and-neck with Ponting this year, followed by Dhoni who is the third most discussed player by cricket fans in both years. Kevin Pietersen was fourth in 2009; however he has been overtaken by Virender Sehwag this year.

"It might be surprising that Ricky Ponting is the most discussed IPL player online. This is because cricket fans either love or hate Punter, but seldom ignore him. Also, message boards are very active in Australia and Ponting is the most widely discussed player there," said Nagarajan.

Online IPL Player Discussions measured by Nielsen BuzzMetrics

CGM Type: Groups, Boards, Micro Blogs, Blogs Time Period: 1st Dec'09 - 9th Mar'10

Last year Shah Rukh Khan was the most discussed name within KKR in relation to IPL discussions globally. He was followed by Sourav Ganguly and Brenden McCullum. Fake IPL Player was fifth, after Ajit Agarkar. If we look only at only India sources for last year's buzz regarding KKR, then Fake IPL Player was in the fourth spot - after SRK, Ganguly and McCullum.

"Fake IPL Player was in the top five in 2009, even though the scope of the reports was global. This was in the absence of Twitter. So you can imagine how much more attention he can garner this year, with a tool like Twitter at his disposal. This also indicates how effectively a topic can be trended in the online world, within a period of seven weeks", adds Nagarajan.