UCLA gymnastics has the "largest social media following of all collegiate women’s sports teams with a number of over 750,000 followers coming from a combination of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter," according to Maggie Vanoni of the L.A. DAILY NEWS. Thousands of fans "pay close attention" to the team's social media posts, as UCLA’s "vast social media presence is one of its main outlets in reaching fans all over the world." The team has 349,000 followers on Instagram, and through "comparing that number to numerous women’s professional sports teams," the school found they were second only to the USWNT, which lists two million followers on its Instagram account. UCLA gymnast Madison Kocian said, “That is really impressive for an NCAA team. But also just for a female sport because before there was so much recognition around football, basketball and the sports that bring in a lot of revenue, but now to see how many fans we have following us and aspiring to be like us one day, that’s more of our motivation than anything" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 2/23).
