Social media has done wonders for the sporting industry and will continue to do so moving forward. The world of Fantasy Sports is a big reason why sports have become so popular to watch. This has been a proven effective tool that enhances fan interaction, ticket sales, and television ratings. When it comes down to it, sports are a big part of people’s lives and the industry understands that.
More and more sporting teams have adopted the way social media is handled within their organization. Take for example the Major League Baseball team the Cleveland Indians. The Indians wanted to contribute to social media around the team rather than just be spectators. The organization opened a Social Media Deck in the bleachers of their stadium Progressive Field, creating an experience where bloggers and other active social media participants can sit acting as their own press box. This section is sponsored by Time Warner Cable and has wireless internet access as has since expanded into a luxury suite. This whole social media experience has continued to increase ticket sales and attendance with a waiting list of over two hundred people!
Cleveland Indians Social Media Suite
The NBA is probably one of the sturdiest social media positions within the sports industry mainly because of the Twitter and Facebook following of more than twenty plus million people. The National Basketball Association constantly uses social media strategies each and every day, which is mainly experienced through the players themselves. As mentioned in the article 20 Great uses of social media in sports no other property has as many of its highest profile superstars frequently tweeting and posting on Facebook as the NBA. The player that has used social media to the fullest would be Paul Pierce, no longer a Boston Celtic but not a Brookline Net. Last season, he sent out a tweet saying to meet him in twenty minutes at a location of his choice if someone wanted two free tickets to the basketball game that night! It was a local news headline and I thought it was great publicity for Twitter.
The NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal was one of the first well-known superstar to really introduce this website by announcing his retirement through this start-up, real-time video messaging service.
Tout saw a great opportunity with the legend Shaquille O’Neal and used each other to boost awareness in the social media world of breaking news. Shaq’s fifteen second retirement video on Tout.com gained more than 500,000 views in the first three hours after it was posted. This is just a great example of a social media tool that is used in the sports industry. In combination with Tout, Twitter and Facebook; the sports industry should continue to use these platforms and additional tools to improve their standing within the social media environment.
Reference:
Fisher, E. (2011, August 1). 20 Great uses of social media in sports – SportsBusiness Daily. Retrieved from http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/08/01/In-Depth/Social-media.aspx
ajcannon3 
Andrew,
I love reading your blog, especially since it is about sports but it’s always about different ideas or technologies that I haven’t written about myself. I actually heard about the Cleveland Indians and their social media suite, I think that is a huge upgrade in technology and social media for sport venues. Do you think that many teams and stadiums/arenas are going to follow with this upgrade in social media? I agree about the NBA having some of the most frequently users of social media platforms, from LeBron James, to like we both stated in our blogs, Paul Pierce they try to incorporate ways for their fans to meet them or see them rather than just post what they are doing 24/7. I think that using social media in the sports industry is a way for them to stay connected with their fans and to be able to share personal stories, photos and other aspects of their lives that the media and during the sporting events you don’t get to see. So I am going to have to Google Tout, I have no idea what it is, but if Shaq was doing it, it must be something good for the sports world. Especially since he has had such heavily positive feedback from his Tweets on Twitter and always talking with fans and sharing. So I am definitely going to look into it! Great blog thought! Thank you for sharing!
-Katie
How a great post! You set a great example for this post. Joel also post relates to the sports and I agree with you guys’ both post. More and more sports teams connect with social media and interact with Fans. Moreover, they are attracting many of people through social media especially the young generation. Thus, more and more sports teams are trying to follow many kinds of social network and interact with people. They are trying to get more advantages from social media.
Thanks
Li.