A recent social listening report from Capstone-Intel revealed that while Filipinos are saddened by Ricky Rubio’s retirement, data shows more support has emerged for the basketball superstar.
Capstone-Intel Corporation is a high-impact research company that uses innovative research technologies, tools, and methods to convert data and information into breakthrough insights and actionable intelligence outputs. It is committed to helping its clients solve problems, find solutions, grow markets and constituencies, build reputations, navigate risks, manage crises, and be the country’s leading private research and intelligence agency.
Background
Not too long after accepting the Cleveland Cavaliers’ buyout offer, Ricky Rubio declared his retirement from the NBA on Thursday. Taking a leave of absence in August to tend to his mental health, Rubio did not play in any games this season.
While this news shocked a majority of the basketball fans, in a statement, Rubio revealed what pushed him to end his NBA career emphasizing that July 30 of last year was “one of the toughest nights” of his life.
“One day, when the time is right, I would love to share my full experience with you all so I can help support others going through similar situations. Until then, I would like to keep it private out of respect for my family and myself, as I’m still working on my mental health. But I’m proud to say I’m doing much better and getting better every day,” he said.
“I wanted to post this message for you today because my NBA career has come to an end,” he added.
Methodology
Capstone-Intel Corp. examined the online presence of Ricky Rubio in the country as a topic of discussion over the month, from December 6, 2023, to January 5, 2024, by utilizing all publicly accessible posts from social and non-social media platforms in order to gather the sentiments of the public about the retired basketball player.
Facebook Performance
Capstone-Intel found that Ricky Rubio garnered a 7,557.6 engagement score for its 83 total post count, which yielded over 45,293 total reaction count. When broken down, “Facebook like” accounts for 67.2 percent of the total reactions, with 30,426. Followed by “Facebook love” with 8,196 reactions (18.1 percent), “Facebook sad” with 6,077 (13.4 percent), “Facebook wow” with 399 (0.9 percent), “Facebook haha” with 187 (0.4 percent), and “Facebook angry” with 8 reactions.
Looking at the data, the majority of “Facebook like” and “Facebook love” reactions can be attributed to several Filipino social media users showing excessive support for the basketball player’s decision. However, it is also worth noting that a significant number of Filipino fans are saddened by the retirement of Rubio.
Online mentions
Capstone-Intel likewise revealed that Ricky Rubio received 88.8 percent positive mentions, and the remaining 31.2 percent were negative mentions. This means that the article mentions Rubio was mostly angled positively. It is also worth noting that Ricky Rubio received 5,101,942 social media reach, while its non-social media reach yielded over 7,054,062 non-social media reach.
Top posts
In terms of top posts, the top post for Ricky Rubio was a Facebook post from Clutch Points featuring the retirement of Rubio, which received a 1,621.0 engagement score.
This was followed by another post from NBA TV, which featured the reason behind the retirement of Rubio. This post yielded a total of 1,007.0 engagement score.
The third most engaging post for Rubio was a Facebook post from NBA Updates, regarding Rubio’s retirement from the NBA, yielding a total engagement score of 705.0.
