Social Media And Its Impact On Society

From all the premier sports athletes like LeBron James, Aaron Rodgers, Andy Roddick, Michael Phelps to all of the big-time sports anchors and newscasts like Chris Berman or Dick Vitale. Social Media has changed the dynamics of how people watch and follow sports on a daily basis. Social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook are two big networks that allow people to stay up to date with their favorite team and/or athlete.

I want to thank you for taking this time to learn about the ever evolving field of Sports Marketing. Today I will be discussing how social media has transformed sports marketing.

This trend has become so popular that social media has exploded with sports news and is a popular way to find information on current sports. Feil describes the influence of social media on sports, “As sports marketing agency Catalyst found in its 2012 Fan Engagement Study, digital channels—league websites, fan sites, online sports news sources, sports-related Twitter feeds and other Internet and social media outlets—are now second only to TV as a primary and trusted source of information for sports fans.” People are now relying on social media to find their information, and they are even spreading the news when they find out. Teams have started to capitalize on this acquired information. Feil goes into detail to show how the Detroit Pistons have managed it, “A gamified app called SocialToaster that lets registered fans earn points for each item they repost to their social media feeds; those with the most points receive game tickets, team merchandise and other incentives.” Teams are capitalizing on this opportunity to spread the word about themselves using prizes as incentives for devoted fans. By using this method, they hope to expand to new, untapped, resources of fans and bring their current fan base even closer. It is truly a genius idea, the

Another way social media has affected the sports world is by bringing fans closer to the game. As a sports fan, I can agree that fans always want to feel closer to the game. That is why people still pay ridiculous ticket prices to attend ball games instead of watching them on TV in the comfort of their living room. Fans have an urge for that connection and closeness. They want to feel apart of the game. Social media sites provide teams and players the unique ability to directly connect with their fans. It used to be the closest you got to a favorite player was a post-game radio interview. Now, you can follow them on Twitter and have rare insight into their everyday world. Players use sites like Facebook and Twitter to give fan’s a behind the scenes look at what happens at home, in the locker room, and on the sidelines. Social media gives pro athletes the chance to interact and share data with fans in a way that was not possible in the past. Fans used to only know about a player from what they read in the paper or saw on TV (Van Schaik) . Now, fans can find out what their favorite player ate for breakfast or what music they are listening to. Fans have yearned for this kind of accessibility for years and now it is becoming a reality. I actually have friend’s that make it a daily ritual

NBA fan culture and its interactions with players have revolutionized the league over the years. Fans only had the ability to either watch on TV or go see the game but now with Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts, there’s a whole new way for fans to interact with athletes and stay connected. A paradigm shift has taken place in the American culture where fans feel a need for instant gratification. Social media now allows fans to fill their need without needing

Fisher, Eric. (2011). Sports Business Journal. 20 Great Uses of Social Media in Sports. Retrieved from http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/08/01/In-Depth/Social-media.aspx

Social media has taken the world by storm for the last couple of years and because of that a lot of major league sport teams have needed to revise or make up a brand new social media policy for their players to adhere to. Many major league players, no matter the sport, love using social media to primarily interact with their fans and with social media growing, having stricter policies on the professional players are needed in order to have control of some of the things that are being said on social media. In March of 2012, the Major League Baseball (MLB) association constructed a new social media policy, which consisted of two different policies, one for the major league players and another one for minor league players. For this paper alone,

“Nowadays, fans can buy their tickets on an MLB team’s website, follow the tweets of players, “like” behind-the-scenes photos a team posts on Facebook, comment on a manager’s moves on team-supervised blogs and get updates on open seats, new merchandise and weather for the first pitch. In turn, teams hope that by communicating through social media outlets, they can better know their fans and build a loyal customer base, win or lose” (McKeon).

Collegiate athletics have long played an integral role in higher education in the United States. The popularity of collegiate football in America is unprecedented. “The fan frenzy surrounding teams, games, and the sport itself, is borderline barmy. Aptly described as the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, fan emotions in college football are rampant” (Moore, B., 2010). Football programs are able to generate a great deal of revenue through gate receipts (Groza, M. D., 2010). Football game day attendance is also an excellent proxy for other revenues such apparel sales and concessions.

Nothing compares with the sights, sounds, and smells of a National Football League stadium. Contrarily, those who are “super fans” of baseball, basketball, or any athletic event for that matter, argue the same. No matter the sport, fans across the nation gather weekly to attend athletic events of all levels; however, social media has caused a dent in that attraction. Social media, while containing great benefits, is destroying appreciation of sports. Sports and attendance of events no long hold value when every play and statistic is at the touch of a button.

Throughout history American college sports has been on the rise, attracting people from all walks of life through the lure of intense passion and competition that is demonstrated by athletes and fans alike. At the centre of the immense success of American college sports is its governing organization, known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), which has now become one of the most recognizable organizations in all of sports. As per their mission statement, the NCAA’s purpose is, “ To be an integral part of higher education and to focus on the development of our student-athletes.” (NCAA, 2016) With their recent growth, the NCAA has taken the popularization of college sports from a national level to an international level, as

College Football and Basketball, millions of people tune in every weekend to watch the endless amount of towering athletes hitting each other for our amusement. To many people it is a break from ordinary life. A chance to come together and celebrate a tradition that has evolved over a period of time. For others, just the thought of living vicariously through athlete accomplishments on the field, can bring a sense of joy. The ideology of college sports has been passed down through generations, ever changing, to resemble what it is today. Encompassing and expanding a more diverse base of people that range from the casual to diehard fan. There are constant debates on whether student athletes are merely being used as puppets in the grand scheme of obtaining the almighty dollar.

Fannect LLC is a company that develops, runs, and maintains an app known as Fannect. Fannect is an app designed to not only determine the fan base of a sports teams but also rank individual fans. It is, therefore, a unique platform that enables fans to partake in competitive sport events that are powered by social network that aim at measuring the fans enthusiasm, ardor and comprehension about the team. The company aims at creating such kind of a platform and endeavors to reward fans for their loyalty to their favorite teams (Fannect, 2012). Given the nature of the industry, sports, that the platforms targets and the current trends emerging in teams fan base constitutes its critical strengths. In particular, features of the app like gameface, score guessing and photo competition for best game day picture gives the app a competitive edge in the social network market (Fannect, 2012; Richter & Nadine, 2007). In terms of opportunities, Fannect have multiple sporting clubs and teams from various sporting activities to pocket as clients. However, the current pace of technological development will give room for proliferation of related apps that will pose threats to Fannect. In addition, some features of the app makes it vulnerable to stiff competition from other social networks(Richter & Nadine, 2007). In addition to the SWOT profile outlined, Fannect LLC is greatly vulnerable to macro-environment forces. The changes in social-cultural

While many people put off and ignore the issue of social media and its downfalls, others say that people should think about how our lives are being affected by this advancement in technology, including, lack of human contact and precious time being lost due to consumption with social media. Social media is currently a highly controversial topic in which numerous people have mixed feelings. Society has typically viewed new advancements in technology as beneficial and a sign of success within their country. But, has it solely caused successful outcomes, or are there downfalls to these advancements?

The term ‘social media’ has become a broad-term to describe a large number of online systems that serve as a platform for the generation, and distribution of user-generated content. Social media creates a virtual social space, where a large number of users come together and interact with one another. These interactions can be either structured, such as responses that are moderated on blogs, semi-structured, such as a discussion between an extended network on Facebook, or unstructured, such as the anarchial functioning of Twitter.