This report determines the 2010 MLB World Series Champion using social buzz. What team do you think garners the most buzz?

1. Deciding the Fall Classic with Social Buzz Jeff Espositowww.jeffesposito.com

2. Baseball is a sport that is obsessed with numbers and statistics. You may know about Bill James’ statistics and Sabermetrics, but would you ever think of putting NPS, SIM or conversation share to the MLB postseason? This report takes a look at the social buzz surrounding the eight teams that are gunning for the 2010 MLB crown.

4. Crowning a Champion 4 To select a winner, I used social buzz to select the league and World Series winners. My formula equally weighs five variables , including conversation share, positive conversation share (mentions sentimented positive by the tool), negative conversation share (mentions sentimented negative by the tool), SIM score and Net Promoter Score. To select the league division winners, I ranked each variable on a 1-4 scale (with negative conversation share counting negative 1-4) with the top team receiving four points while the lowest team received one point. The team with the most points is my predicted league champion. In the case of a tie, the overall mentions served as a tiebreaker. I determined my World Series picks in a similar fashion using a 1-2 scale. In the case of a tie in the championship series the tie-breaker was the team with the overall highest score from both rounds combined.

5. Formulas Conversation Share Total team mentions / Overall league mentions Positive Conversation Share Total positive team mentions / Overall positive league mentions Negative Conversation Share Total negative team mentions / Overall negative league mentions Net Promoter Score (NPS) (Positive mentions + neutral mentions) – negative mentions / Total team mentions Social Influence Marketing Score (SIM) NPS * Conversation Share * 1,000 5

6. Leaders of the Fall Top Mentioned Teams New York Yankees Philadelphia Texas Least Mentioned Teams Cincinnati Tampa Bay San Francisco Top Positive Mentions New York Yankees Tampa Bay Texas Top Negative Mentions New York Philadelphia Texas 6

7. Leaders of the Fall Top SIM Score New York Yankees Philadelphia Atlanta Low SIM Score Cincinnati Tampa Bay Minnesota Top NPS San Francisco Cincinnati Atlanta Low NPS Philadelphia Texas Minnesota 7

8. Conversation Share

9. American League Playoff Teams Minnesota Twins New York Yankees Tampa Bay Rays Texas Rangers

10. American League NPS Yankees – 96% Rangers – 95% Rays – 95% Twins – 95% SIM Score Yankees - 359.00 Rangers – 204.24 Twins – 196.67 Rays – 192.50 Positive Conversation Share Yankees – 39.04% Rays – 23.64% Rangers – 19.75% Twins – 17.57% Negative Conversation Share Yankees – 34.36% Rangers – 23.89% Twins – 21.82% Rays – 19.94% Conversation Share League Champion: New York Yankees Team Rankings New York Yankees - 12 Texas Rangers - 8 Tampa Bay Rays - 7 Minnesota Twins - 6 For an explanation of the scoring, see page 4 10

11. Minnesota Twins

12. Minnesota Twins

13. New York Yankees

14. New York Yankees

15. Tampa Bay Rays

16. Tampa Bay Rays

17. Texas Rangers

18. Texas Rangers

19. National League Playoff Teams Atlanta Braves Cincinnati Reds Philadelphia Phillies San Francisco Giants

20. National League NPS Giants – 98% Reds – 98% Braves – 97% Phillies – 95% SIM Score Phillies – 263.33 Braves – 262.28 Giants – 249.94 Reds – 191.84 Positive Conversation Share Braves – 36.11% Giants – 29.72% Phillies – 22.10% Reds – 12.06% Negative Conversation Share Phillies - 45.28% Braves – 27.30% Reds – 13.94% Giants – 13.48% Conversation Share League Champion: San Francisco Giants Team Rankings San Francisco Giants – 10 Atlanta Braves – 9 Philadelphia Phillies – 7 Cincinnati Reds - 5 For an explanation of the scoring, see page 4 20

21. Atlanta Braves

22. Atlanta Braves

23. Cincinnati Reds

24. Cincinnati Reds

25. Philadelphia Phillies

26. Philadelphia Phillies

27. San Francisco Giants

28. San Francisco Giants

29. World Series New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants

30. And the winner is…

31. New York Yankees Utilizing the social buzz surrounding the 2010 MLB Playoffs, the New York Yankees will defeat the San Francisco Giants to take home their 28th World Championship. The final score using the metrics listed on page 4 has the Bronx Bombers winning 5-4 over the Giants.

32. About this report This report was compiled using Scout Labs. The account was provided to me for research purposes. MLB and Social Media are two things that I am passionate about. Like many baseball fans, I am excited for the start of the postseason. I did the research for this report to see if this online passion and buzz had any relation to on-field performance. I figured using numbers was a better predicting tool than saying I like this team or mascot X is tougher than mascot Z. This report was not done in conjunction with the league or any member teams. All images used in this report were from PicApp under their terms and conditions. All team names and league marks appearing in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of Major League Baseball or individual teams. 32

33. About this report About Jeff Esposito Jeff Esposito is a public relations professional with a passion for social and conversational media and writes on both topics on JeffEsposito.com. He earned his PR stripes working in the professional sports world. Jeff is currently a public relations manager at Vistaprint, a leading online provider of professional marketing products and services to micro businesses. He is responsible for the day-to-day management, development and growth of the company's social media properties and campaigns. He is also active in a number of other communications areas for Vistaprint, including marketing communications and PR. The information and findings are from Jeff Esposito and do not reflect the opinions of his employer or Scout Labs. If you would like more information on this report or would like to contact me, please visit: http://jeffesposito.com/about/ 33