A whole generation of football people has grown up with satellite TV such as ESPN, Super sports, BBC Sports… Now, a global generation of mostly young football lovers between 18 – 45 years of age are now turning to their favorite Internet social media platform like facebook.com, twitter.com, youtube.com, fanbox.com…to chat, post messages, pictures, videos and connect with like minds – from their homes, in their own language, with their own stars, fans and friends. From UK to Russia, from USA to China, from Brazil to Nigeria… people are interacting in real time at the fastest speed ever – using laptops, ipads and other mobile devices.
Today people can no more rely on BBC sports commentators like Guy Mowbray to read some well edited news and analysis of football stories. They can get the info raw and say it as it is on the social media platforms. With translation applications available, language is no longer a barrier. Whether you write your post in Swahili, people will be able to read it in their own lingual franca anywhere in the world.
It’s amazing how football lifestyle has changed and if you are not yet interacting with the social media on the internet, you maybe missing out on most of the fun and excitement that herald today football world.
There is more to it, but I will share here just five ways the social media participation can enrich your football life style. I hope to inspire you to begin to follow the global trend and enjoy a more rewarding football life.
Five Ways Social Media Can Enrich Your Football Life
- You can get raw info, analysis and opinions of people you interact with on the social media platform. Over 80 million football contents are shared daily on facebook alone. It allows you to make comments as well s chat real time with friends on any football issues.
- You can watch live streaming of football games played in Europe and USA via social media like youtube.com. You can as well watch video replay of great performances of your favorite stars.
Over 200 million football video clips are posted in youtube alone and you can watch videos – like the best of lionel Messi or finals of 2010 world cup – by just searching the right “keywords” you will find numerous exciting video clips you can play back again and again.
- You can get first hand outbursts of football professionals and fans regarding any football game or issues. A lot of football professionals are using twitter.com to tweet real time outbursts on pre-game or post game issues; transfer market issues; match fixing and other technical issues.
- You can get business connections with football professionals by sharing you expertise and your profile on social media like linkedin.com or favorme.com. You can post on linkedin wall, asking people that need you to work with them to contact you. The beauty is you can participate in surveys or projects from your location and get payment sent to you after all.
- You can get up-to-minute info of your favorite star. What project he is embarking upon; where he is at the moment, what’s going on in his private or family life - by just following the person on fanbox.com. You will know a lot about him.
Beyond that, you can as well build your own fans list and use fanbox.com or favorme.com to build your personal brand.
Nowadays, the one way communication system is getting less popular by the day. People want to get more involved in the communication process. As a stakeholder or fan, your voice should be heard too. In fact, most football managers today use social media platform to listen and interact with football consumers all over the world
Written by Benson Chukwueke
