As UK Sports Stars embrace social media in all its forms and become the digital generation of our sports we are seeing a few rise up above the rest and give enough reason for people to click ‘follow’.

I wanted to look in a little more detail to see what gives these few the edge and what the others have to look to do to catch up.  We know that many fans will follow players from their favourite teams and so those from the highest profile teams in the highest profile sports will always come out top.

The million club on twitter currently has 3 people at its table, with a fourth knocking on the door to join in.  One thing that is interesting to note is that many of our top tennis, golf, football and cricket stars sit at around 200,000-400,000 bracket.

Within this sit the likes of Andy Murray, Michael Owen, Rory McIroy, Lee Westwood, David Haye, Kevin Pietersen, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Jack Wilshere and Robbie Savage (how did he get in there?!).

Here’s a look at the top 3….

Rio Ferdinand  (@rioferdy5)  –              1,217,533 followers

He’s been quoted in many papers, had arguments with sports reporters and been sledged for his spelling but is still much loved by the Twitter public. 

For me one of his secrets to his success since started in mid-2010 is that he is one of the few who has a plan and a reason for being on the platform.  Yes he wants to give an insight into what a footballer does away from the pitch and engage with fans but there is more to it than that.

He also has one eye on his post-football career.  Being 31 now, younger than I but starting to creak in football years, he has one eye on his next career…. and its not going to be as a manager or coach.  He has already launched a magazine and clothing range which will form at least part of his post-football life.  Now if he had tried to do this in the pre-social media era he would have had to start from scratch, get into the right papers/magazines and work on gaining some PR. 

Now he has an audience of over 1m people who are eager to hear his every message.  This is a larger circulation than a lot of the covers he would be trying to get into and he is speaking direct to the consumer….us.

He may not be everyone’s cup of tea and yes his spelling could do with improving (even with twitter abbreviations) but he is doing it well and successfully.  He keeps his fans happy and it does a key job for him.

Ian Poulter (@ianjamespoulter)        –              1,210,043 followers

Another one who could be described as ‘a bit marmite’ when it comes to whether you’re a fan of his or not.  One of our earliest tweeters having started in March 2009 (a full year and 3 months before Rio) he has been on the edge in terms of providing content and a look at how it could be used for a long time now.

He gives a great insight into the life of a golfer, someone who spends most of the year on the road and may only come to our attention a few times a year when the Majors’ are on the TV.  He provides a showcase of what his life is made up of through photos, videos and tweets that are sometimes best described as borderline.

You could say that Twitter was made for someone of Ian’s personality… he loves to talk, is best when he is the centre of attention and enjoys living life on the edge.  This sometimes gets him in trouble with the authorities and the press but he certainly helps keep golf on the agenda 365 days a year.

One of the things I liked when researching this is how he handles those who step way over the line.  A very recent couple of posts by Ian show how he had been targeted by someone who just set out to abuse him.  He managed to deal with it publicly, in the right way and have the account shut down very quickly.  This is similar to the ‘naming and shaming;’ that Lee Westwood has previously spoke about with such idiots who are keen to spoil it for the rest of us.

One of the most enjoyable ways Twitter and its use by Sports Stars was illustrated during the Ryder Cup.  I followed the European players I could find and added them to a list which I followed on TweetDeck…. and that was how I followed the events from Celtic Manor whilst at work.  It added a brilliant new angle to the event, giving it so much more depth than just the play taking place on the course.  Who can forget the celebration photo’s or Ian’s controversial video of him and his sons eating cereal from the trophy the following morning!

Cesc Fabregas Soler (@cesc4official)       –              1,013,388 followers

Cesc is one of the new breed in football and more specifically Arsenal who have been brought up in the digital age.  The club has by far the most players of any in the UK who are on Twitter (at around 20 at last count) and it does a great job at amplifying the clubs brand around the world.

Cesc is the biggest name at the club so thus the biggest draw when it comes to those to follow, he has also been on Twitter longer than Rio (which I was surprised by, he has been on it since Jan 2010) and he is very popular in another Twitter using country, Spain…or two if you include Catalonia.

It is this multi cultural attraction that makes him so popular.  He tweets mainly in English but also in Spanish and Catalonian to make sure he is including all his fans and gives it a nice personal touch.  He is not the only sports star to do this, if you look at Rafa Nadal (a fellow Spaniard) his Facebook page has all posts in Spanish and English.

On the back of this popularity he has launched a new website that integrates his Facebook and Twitter profiles.  A good move to give somewhere that content can be controlled and an area you can say a bit more about things you want to talk about plus ensure your sponsors are being plugged.

These 3 are the current million + members from the UK and still a long way behind the top celebrities who are on 8m+ at the moment.  They are showing the way forward for others and show that with some trial and error, good content and a plan of why you are there then the future can be bright.

There is one person I have not mentioned who is set to become the fourth member of the band.  He is of course Manchester United & England star Wayne Rooney.  At 943,755 followers as of this evening I am sure it will be sooner rather than later and it will be interesting to see what he does to celebrate getting to this milestone.

His appearance is the most recent and came on the back of some PR disasters around the World Cup, handing in a transfer request and subsequent loss of form.  He has come across very well so far (as I’ve spoken about previously) and just about managing to avoid any confrontations.

So who will be next??? Jack Wilshere is the youngest up-and-coming football and twitter star with 630k fans….look out Rio!