The Most Popular NFL Teams according to Facebook. Where do your Panthers rank?

Quietly in the middle of the season last year, the NFL followed suit with the rest of the business world and created Facebook pages for each of their 32 teams. It's a trend you are beginning to see more and more in the world today. If you are going to survive as a small business, you need every advantage you can get! Websites such as Facebook and Twitter represent something that all businesses should crave for and cherish: Free advertising. And with millions of Americans hanging out on Facebook every day, each 'Like' you receive is a potential customer coming to your door and buying your crap.

But I digress! They made the move to Facebook and on NFL.Com they have added a ‘Like' button for each of the 32 teams in the NFL. This represents an opportunity. I thought that you would all be curious where your Panthers rank against the rest of the NFL, so I have created a nice little list for us all to look at. In order to decide the order on my list, I'll use the leading organization page for each NFL team on Facebook in terms of Facebook 'likes.'

Going through the list, I quickly noticed a few trends. Obviously, winning teams are more popular than losing teams. But it goes deeper than that. Older teams with a tradition of success are far more popular than younger teams that have only been successful a few seasons. Teams with that franchise QB typically have a lot more popularity than teams without the face of the franchise. Overall, if you're here longer you have a bigger fanbase.

1. Dallas Cowboys: 2,318,382 likes

2. Pittsburgh Steelers: 1,881,174 likes

3. New England Patriots: 1,677,529 likes

4. Chicago Bears 1,327,415 likes

See the rest of the list after the jump!

5. New Orleans Saints: 1,198,252 likes

6. Green Bay Packers: 1,197,416 likes

7. Indianapolis Colts: 940,136 likes

8. Minnesota Vikings: 833,650 likes

9. Philadelphia Eagles: 744,617 likes

10. New York Giants: 682,643 likes

11. Oakland Raiders: 651,225 likes

12. San Diego Chargers: 641,822 likes

13. Miami Dolphins: 574,026 likes

14. Washington Redskins: 518,719 likes

15. Denver Broncos: 515,250 likes

16. New York Jets: 512,963 likes

17. San Francisco 49ers: 500,672 likes

18. Baltimore Ravens: 434,118 likes

19. Seattle Seahawks: 410,232 likes

20. Kansas City Chiefs: 374,415 likes

21. Cincinnati Bengals: 341,703 likes

22. Detroit Lions: 264,859 likes

23. Cleveland Browns: 246,485 likes

24. Houston Texans: 220,907 likes

25. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 209,521 likes

26. Arizona Cardinals: 208,156 likes

27. Buffalo Bills: 199,877 likes

28. Tennessee Titans: 191,915 likes

29. Atlanta Falcons: 176,608 likes

30. Carolina Panthers 171,960 likes

31. Jacksonville Jaguars: 142,996 likes

32. St. Louis Rams 77,883 likes

There you have it ladies and gentlemen, your Carolina Panthers are at #30. Do remember that these facebook pages aren't even a year old, I'm sure that our position as the Panthers will fluctuate depending on how good we are in this upcoming year.

Leading the pack is the Dallas Cowboys, the only team managing to break 2 million Facebook likes. Not quite a surprise. They are "America's Team" after all. Most surprising though was the dropoff from the Jags and the St. Louis Rams. Is their fanbase really that small? Do none of the people in St. Louis know how to use a computer? I had a hard time believing that that number was accurate. Yet I searched and searched but I could never find another facebook page with more likes and the number I did get was from their ‘official' Facebook page served with regular updates from the team. So, it has to be accurate.

I do notice something else. Despite their playoff season, the Atlanta Falcons are only a little under 5,000 Facebook likes higher than us! Shall we declare war on them and see if we can pass them for the 29^th spot? Shall the Panther fans strike a serious blow against our hated rivals by bringing more of our flock to the promised land?