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Did you see the panda? It appeared in the student section in the first half, and ended the evening creepin’ on B. Knight. Watch out, Bobby! (Photo from @wibwBlake)

The panda in the Texas A&M student section was one of the most popular topics among KU fans on twitter last night. Its fame peaked just after 10 p.m. and it was mentioned in 4.5% of all #kubball tweets in the past 24 hours. Considering the amount of specific topics tweeted about during a game (fouls, players, coaches, scores, commentators) that’s a pretty big chunk of panda tweeting action. Definitely more than any other single topic received (even more than tweeters hating on the Big East/ESPN for waiting to switch games).

This graph shows the rise and fall of panda mentions on Monday.

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What does this mean for social media? Nothing groundbreaking, but it proves that fans are paying attention. Texas A&M could embrace the panda and turn it into a “Where’s WaldoPanda?” feature at sporting events (which could obviously be sponsored for ca$h if Panda becomes really popular).

Schools should never underestimate the creativity of their student body. Students are usually the most passionate and loyal fans a university has. Those are two qualities that breed great social media content.