Facebook Insight Analysis: 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio

We are just a few days away from the official start of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! As the athletes arrive in Brazil and the city ramps up for the events, you can follow along with everything Summer Olympics 2016 here.

This year’s Olympics have generated much excitement and spirited discussion. Here are five fun facts from NBC News on the 2016 Rio Olympics:

• Rio 2016 will be the first time in Olympic history that a South American country has hosted the Games.
• A group of athletes who have been forced to flee their countries will be allowed to compete for the first time as the Refugee Olympic Athletes team.
• Around 10,500 athletes from 206 countries are expected to take part in 17 days of the Olympiad, competing across 306 events.
• Golf will return to the Olympics after a 112-year absence.
• The Rio games will be the first to feature Olympians born in the year 2000.

In the month leading up to the Olympic games, The Motherhood’s social listening team analyzed anonymous Facebook data to identify the overall trends and sentiments prior to the Opening Ceremony. Below are some of our key findings and insights:

During a one-month period, there were more than 484,000 Facebook posts in the United States alone that mentioned the 2016 Olympic Games.

Females led more than 64 percent of the conversations; however, men were more likely to share links. Of the links shared, links to YouTube videos dominated.

On a per capita basis, Oregon and Nebraska were the most involved states in the conversation, with more than five in every 1,000 people posting about the topic.

Conversation spiked around July 8 and July 10, which happened to be the dates of the track and fields trials and gymnastics trials. Knowing that, it is no surprise that the most mentioned sports were gymnastics, track and field, and swimming.

The most-used hashtags included #RoadToRio, #Rio2016 and #TeamUSA.

Overall, the majority sentiment for the posts was positive; however, posts also mentioning Rio de Janeiro or Brazil were more likely to be negative.

We expect to see these trends continue throughout the coverage of the 2016 Olympic Games! What CONVERSATION TRENDS about the 2016 SUmmer Olympics have you noticed in your social feed?

*All data collected from NUVI anonymous Facebook posts from 6/20/16 through 7/20/16.