Social media: it’s a phenomenon. Sports: it’s a spectacle. Social media and sports combined: have unprecedentedly altered the sports landscape.
Fans consume information, athletes share information, and brands advertise information from a myriad of innovative social media platforms: Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Vine, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, and more. It is truly revolutionary.
At the collegiate level, sports teams can use social media to inform, engage, and interact with fans. The University of Toronto Varsity Blues have a growing social media presence.
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With over 400 YouTube subscribers, 4500 Facebook likes, 2000 Instagram followers, and 6000 Twitter followers, the Varsity Blues rely heavily on social media as means of interaction and dissemination of information.
Mary Beth Challoner, manager of events, marketing, and sports information for the Blues, underscores how immediacy is one of the most important implications of social media in sports: “The most profound implication is the immediacy of which scores and highlights are reported and searched by the fans.”
“Gone are the days where a long, written article is sent, or posted, a few hours after the game, detailing the intricacies of the event. There is a constant flow of pre-game and in-game messaging before the final buzzer or whistle even sounds. It’s a much faster-paced environment. Reports two hours after the game are considered old news or backfill (supplementary information) to the already existing story. 140 characters (or less) and a nice photo with a caption are the trending forces in sports media these days,” Challoner adds.
Even for the athletes, their use of social media is not limited to commentary on their sport or virtually conversing with fans — they can employ social media to leverage their personal brand.
Michele O’Keefe, executive director at Canada Basketball, echoes the indispensable impact of social media amongst athletes who have invaluably benefited from social media exposure: “[Canadian NBA] players like Tyler Innis, Cory Joseph, Kelly Olynyk, and Andrew Wiggins have greatly benefited from social media exposure compared to players in the pre-social media age.”
Indeed, although she notes that those players are exponentially talented already, social media has certainly augmented their personal brand value.
Lauren Howe, third-year engineering student, is also the in-arena host for the Toronto Maple Leafs. She notes how valuable and important social media is to sports organizations: “Social media accounts for sports teams have allowed fans to engage in the ‘full fan experience’. This is a whole new era for people to learn about their favourite teams and favourite athletes more than ever before,” says Howe.
“There [is] a variety of sources and news outlets that allow fans to hear about the performance of the game, but by having their own personal account, teams can share a tremendous amount of behind the scenes looks, stories and information to such a widespread audience,” Howe adds.
The advent of social media has radically and revolutionarily altered the communication and information dissemination paradigm. In a digital world marked by its transcendental advancements in technology, accessibility and convenience are prevalent.
Especially in sports, social media’s role to facilitate news has truly been remarkable. From the perspective of the brand, it allows engagement with fans from all corners of the world. For the athlete, they can upload a video of their incredible performances for the world to be amazed and awed by. And for the fan, not only can they learn about the scores of games in a matter of seconds, but they can also reach out to their favourite team, brand, athlete, or sports hero.
