It is no secret that men, women and children all enjoy sports and sporting activities. Whether they are watching, participating, or following, people constantly consume sports in their everyday lives. In the past decade, sports have moved into social media channels and have done so at an astounding rate. Therefore, it should be no surprise how social media has positively affected the sporting world and the way people view it.
Below is a number of ways in which social media has reinvented sports:
Accessibility
With the use of multiple social media channels, most notably Twitter, sports fans are able to access and participate in the lives of their favorite sports stars. In a matter of seconds a New York Knicks fan can be a follower of the new addition to their team, Carmelo Anthony. That fan can gain insight into how Anthony felt about the trade between the Nuggets and Knicks and how excited he is to be playing in MSG (Madison Square Gardens). The possibilities are endless when it comes to following sports stars online, and there are even players who have their own blogs where a fan can visit to see what is occurring on an everyday basis. (See Rajon Rondo's blog: http://www.yardbarker.com/author/column/14282)
Live 24/7
If you are following the right people, you can listen or look in on live sporting actions. Bloggers that have Twitter accounts will frequently have up-to-the-minute updates on the progress of games. I, personally, am a follower of KentuckySportsRadio.com, a website for the University of Kentucky sports fan. A live chat window is available for every basketball game and it allows the participants to actively communicate with each other about the game. All of this occurs while one, if not more, of the moderators, who is usually present at the game, makes consistent live updates about all that is occurring during the course of the game.
Promotion
Social media channels are also being utilized by athletes to support brands and products. Fans are seeing what their favorite sports players drink before a game, what type of brands they use while playing the sport, and where they go for the best sports training, among many others. For instance, Rajon Rondo tweeted the other day to his followers to display the shoes he wore during the NBA All-Star game. The Nike Max Air BB 360 Low shoes will most certainly be a hot ticket item in the shoes over the next few days.
I also love to follow sports stars. I am really into golf, and some of the biggest names use twitter (even during a tournament) to keep the fans up to date with the game. I think it is really cool how it gives the followers a more personal connection with these starts. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThe best thing to be on twitter is chad ocho sinco. after games he posts some the best tweets. It just goes to show that if you can be interesting than people will follow, you just have to give them something to follow.
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