Best of Digital Sports World – Ronaldo Edition 7

Apologies to Justin Bieber but for the next 31 days you won’t be the number 1 topic on the Internet.  That position will be held by the FIFA World Cup. (Bucket List: Mention Justin Bieber in a blog post. Completed)

Here is @Mashable’s guide to following the World Cup on Twitter.  The easiest way is to use #worldcup hashtag and follow soccer tweeps to chat about games as they happen.

Best digital representation of the World Cup schedule (pictured), click around & bookmark it!

Great work from the guys @Activ8Social with the Rajon Rondo’s #LooseBall Scavenger Hunt combining Foursquare, Twitter & Facebook the social media triple-play.

An interesting opposing view on the NBA Finals “Don’t watch the NBA Finals!”

Congrats to the Chicago Blackhawks on winning the Stanley Cup.  Great exposure for sponsor Van Kampen Investments on the Blackhawks website, simple but very effective!

Great research from @TimBull from Tribalytic on the AFL’s hashtag strategy, I’ve been discussing this one with Tim for a while, great to see some data to back it up.  Shows the power leagues like the @AFL have in shaping the conversation on Twitter!

Welcome to Twitter – Brendan Fevola

Love seeing new athletes join Twitter, didn’t think I’d see this guy anytime soon….

Please Fev be careful with the Twitpics

Best On Ground

Great promotion by @NHL over the playoffs with Beard-a-thon, great connection with a sponsor King of Shaves as well as connecting with hockey fans to raise money!  WIN-WIN-WIN

YouTube Clip of the Week

Continuing the World Cup theme…

Edition 6 of #BODSW

NBA is stepping things up with the NBA Finals starting today.

• Getting creative setting up a Twitter account for the matchup @CELTICSvLAKERS
• Setting up a The Finals app on their Facebook page to play highlights from the NBA Finals Archive.
• Shout Go Lakers or Go Celtics in Foursquare to get a Lakers or Celtics badge.
• Providing a Twitter Mashup at NBA.com/Twitter

ESPN having a little fun with the upcoming NBA Free Agent market with the Free Agent Slot Machine.

Sports technology expanding it’s reach with the NFL’s replay technology being adopted by the military help monitor battlefields in Afghanistan. (Link no longer valid, thanks Yahoo)

Are you ready for the World Cup? Is your iPhone?  The New York Times review World Cup apps that will help you track all the news.

Want to be a sponsor of a successful team? Get on board early don’t expect to jump on the bandwagon just when the good times start.  Just ask the NHL’s Philly Flyers their playoff run has them with happy sponsors and a waiting list!

Super Swarms are the next big thing in Foursquare with a 332 people checking in at a Conan O’Brien show.  Look for Foursquare to keep things interesting by setting bigger targets.

In case you missed it, here are 5 mistakes you need to avoid on Twitter.

Congrats to  Collingwood’s Steele Sidebottom winning the Name of the Year competition.

Worst On Ground

It was great to see Amare Stoudamire win Best on Ground in last week’s edition but this week he (or his team) made the mistake of the automated blog post.  Adding a note to his fans that was obviously written before Game 5 but it was posted after the Western Conference Finals had finished.  (Phoenix lost)

Perhaps Amare needs some Sports Geek help? Try Social Media Athlete Training.

Best On Ground

This week’s Best On Ground goes to Kathleen Hessert for this tweet, are you ready for this game changer?

YouTube Clip of the Week

Remembering Dennis Hopper in Hoosiers… RIP

Connect with Sports Geek on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn
Contact Sports Geek to activate your sports brand & connect with your fans

New form of Athlete endorsement?

Edition 5 of #BODSW, welcome to SportsGeek V2.0, what do you think?

Socceroos left for South Africa this week but it was a their Facebook page getting praise gaining 30K+ fans via #WriteTheFuture campaign. (Hat tip to @bryonycole)

Digital and social media pose biggest challenge, admits FC Barcelona CMO “We want to be pioneers in football.  This is our core business.  But we have to look what other elements interests our fans and our members.  And we realise that social networking and digital media, it is important, and we are on that.” (hat tip to @shane_harmon)

It’s always about the balls, Adidas promises more scoring and frustrated goalies at the FIFA World Cup (Thx to @khuda1)

Social Media in Small Business is Anything But Small great advice from @BrianSolis just as relevant for sports team as small business.

A nice study on time spent on social media marketing.  How much time do you spend promoting your sport or team via social media?  It is very easy to fall into “social notworking” mode, that’s why you need a strategy, start with a Sports Geek workshop!

Looking for new ways to look at Foursquare? Try 4sqSearch (via @AdamVincenzini)  While we are talking search you can now search Facebook with logging in at Open Facebook Search

Australian sports fans continue to show support for Collingwood’s Steele Sidebottom in the Name of the Year competition last week he beat Charity Beaver, this week it’s the finals against Banana Yaya. Vote now for Steele.

Best On Ground

This week’s Best On Ground goes to Phoenix Suns star Amare Stoudamire not only for his play against the LA Lakers in the NBA’s Western Conference Finals but for leveraging his Facebook fan page to sell playoff tickets to his fans.

From Darren Rovell at Athlete Social Media Value Could Be Realized Through Retail – CNBC

Through a partnership with RazorGator and a technology platform called AtCost.com, Stoudemire is currently selling playoff tickets on his own Facebook page.

YouTube Clip of the Week

Here are some funny sports commercials to liven up your Friday, enjoy!

Got your ticket yet? HUGE lineup with speakers from Real Madrid, NBA & Tottenham…

Engaging Fans & Participants in the Digital Age Sydney – Star City – July 13 & 14
Sport is Fantastic 2010 Auckland – Eden Park – July 19 & 20

Connect with Sports Geek on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn
Contact Sports Geek to activate your sports brand & connect with your fans

New site design ready for launch soon? Do you like?

Edition 4 of #BODSW, wow 4 straight weeks thanks Jerry Seinfeld – “Don’t break the chain”.

Nike goes Viral in April – how Nike is taking a different approach in social media using their vast stable of athletes to promote the Nike brand via YouTube. Hat tip to @activ8social

How engaged are Australia Twitter users? – Great stats on Twitter users and how they are using Twitter from the team at @Tribalytic, keep an eye on these guys.

London 2012 announce new mascots – Wenlock & Mandeville – two one-eyed steel creatures, borne out of the steel used for the Olympic Stadium in east London – hardly cuddly.

Are Facebook Like Buttons Wrong or Right For Your Site? – A recap of the how & why Facebook buttons may or may not work with your site, good read from @problogger.

Pat Coyle aka @sports20 has a nice mashup presenting a Twitter following/Facebook fan ladder across all US sports updated every 12 hours, now numbers are not everything in social media but sports is competitive so people love ladders.

ESPN working on a Foursquare style app – Will it work? ESPN Passport hasn’t caught on yet have they missed the geo-location boat?

From the “Hey, that’s cool pile” you can now read the news from your tweeps using Paper.li – Feel free to read what my followers are reading – http://paper.li/seancallanan

Worst On Ground

After awarding a Worst on Ground instead of BOG to Phil Mickelson I’ve decided to create this as a permanent feature as you cannot go past Western Bulldogs footballer Jason Akermanis. Aker caused a major stir with his article “Stay in the closet, Jason Akermanis tells homosexuals” he then followed up on radio & TV interviews. The backlash was evident in social media with Facebook groups & fan pages springing up to deride Aker’s views. On Twitter we saw #akermanis trend and the story was picked up globally by the likes of Deadspin. It was a good lesson in understanding how the social platforms can work against you as much as for you, I’m sure the AFLPA (@AFLPAToday) now have a better understanding of this after they prompted the article from Akermanis.

Best On Ground

Great article from Marketing Week “Where dreams of global goals are made…” looking at strategies that brands will take to best leverage their partnership with the FIFA World Cup. Coke, Visa, Castrol & Tesco all featured.

YouTube Clip of the Week

Here is what happens when you introduce AFL footballers to impro, you end up flapping your arms on national TV.

Thanks to @Harry_O & @ImproMelbourne.

Check out Impro Melbourne for shows & workshops. Impro Cave season starts soon check it out!

Got your ticket yet? HUGE lineup with speakers from Real Madrid, NBA & Tottenham…

Engaging Fans & Participants in the Digital Age Sydney – Star City – July 13 & 14
Sport is Fantastic 2010 Auckland – Eden Park – July 19 & 20

Connect with Sports Geek on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn
Contact Sports Geek to activate your sports brand & connect with your fans

What did I miss? Drop a comment with your suggestions for next week’s #BODSW

Well it was fun to see AFL fans from Collingwood & Essendon join in the foursquare fun at the MCG to get the Swarm badge for #anzacswarm.

#anzacswarm success

A few takeaways from this experience.

1. It’s a new world and it’s shows that social media is a small but developing market.  With 90,070 fans in attendance at the G the goal was to get 50 people checking in represented less than 1% of the crowd using foursquare.  It shows that fans currently using foursquare are early adopters that have embraced the technology, they are needed to create momentum for a social network.  It is also interesting to note that the Geelong Vs Carlton game registered over 30 check-ins on Monday so I expect the swarm badge to be a regular occurrence at many sports events by the end of the year.

2. Sports is a great connector, I’m sure others were keeping a close eye on the numbers as we got closer to the magic number 50. It’s a great way to find sports fans.

3. Great social media publicity for the event as the swarm badge was activated many Melbourne based twitter streams & Facebook news would have been flooded with messages like this.

Here’s a list I created of tweeps who got the #anzacswarm badge. If I missed you send me a @ reply to @seancallanan.



Activating the swarm badge was a small success in showing how social media can enhance the sports experience as well as how it can connect like-minded sports fans.  As I stated in my last post, “Connected & active fans are the most valuable online fans as they give sports team the ability to crowd source your promotions with retweets or likes.”

Not on Foursquare yet? Get on board, here’s how. I’m looking forward to this week’s Row Show looking at the NJ Nets case study with Gowalla & Vanyermedia,

Connect with Sports Geek on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn
Contact Sports Geek to activate your sports brand & connect with your fans

If you haven’t heard by now there is new player in social networking it is geo-locational social networks like Foursquare & Gowalla.  You may have seen tweets & Facebook updates from friends stating where they are to know that it is growing in popularity.

Another way to register the growth of a new technology is the by blog posts on the topic, look at what I found as I started to write this article just from the last few weeks:

• Foursquare for Basketball Marketing – PeterRobertCasey.com
• Geolocation is a Game-Changer for Sports Business – SportsNetworker.com
• Foursquare to change the sports experience – Sports Geek [Dec 09]

I agree the sports marketing opportunities with geo-location social networks is very exciting but what I like is the ability to connect your fans.  After all,  the Sports Geek mantra is “Connecting sports, fans & sponsors using technology” these technologies help your fans connect.   Allowing sports fans who love these platforms connect can only result in big wins for the sporting teams involved.  Connected & active fans are the most valuable online fans as they give sports team the ability to crowd source your promotions with retweets or likes.  I’m in the Foursquare camp so here’s a quick guide.

Foursquare for Sports Fans – A Quick Guide

1. Sign up at Foursquare.com

2. Setup your profile – Add an avatar.  Privacy Tip: You may want to hide your phone number & email as they will be automatically shared with your contacts.

3. Link your account to Twitter & Facebook so you can share and connect with your Twitter friends & Facebook friends.

4. Download the Foursquare application now available on iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Palm or other mobile devices.

5. Check in at sporting venues like the MCG or Madison Square Garden. Don’t forget to show your team pride with a shoutout to your team.

6. Connect with other fans at the game, tweet them & say hello.

Sports Geek Do’s & Don’ts

DO check-in at sports venues, restaurants, bars & cafes.

DO NOT check in at non-venues like tram stops, stadium sections or individual seats.

DO share via Twitter & Facebook some of the time when it is meaningful.  Why not all the time? Go to PleaseRobMe.com to find out why not…

DO NOT check-in at home or other places where it can get stalkery e.g. Depositing weekly funds at bank.

DO tell your friends to get on Foursquare nothing better than finding a friend is just down the road when you’re out and about.

DO NOT get caught up in the points & mayorships and check-in EVERYWHERE.

DO have fun with it!

Many people in Melbourne are waiting to see when the Swarm badge (50 people checked in to same venue) will be awarded.

My tip will be at an AFL game this season, so start checking in!

Please send me a foursquare friend request via my foursquare page.

Will you be at Collingwood Vs Essendon on ANZAC day? Join in the fun and RSVP to Get Swarm Badge at MCG on ANZAC day event

Don’t forget early bird registrations for SRG Conferences end TODAY!

Got your ticket yet? HUGE lineup with speakers from Real Madrid, NBA (Trailblazers & Timberwolves) & Tottenham…
Engaging Fans & Participants in the Digital Age Sydney – Star City – July 13 & 14
Sport is Fantastic 2010 Auckland – Eden Park – July 19 & 20

Connect with Sports Geek on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn
Contact Sports Geek to activate your sports brand & connect with your fans

I saw the press releases via TechCrunch announcing FanPulse a new iPhone app just days before the SuperBowl.

Now I love the concept of connecting fans (so much so it’s our tag line) but after playing with the FanPulse app I was disappointed with my initial experience.

FanPulse relies upon the user to grow their on network by inviting friends via the usual methods – Twitter, Facebook & Address Book.  As a new app it needs to “lift it’s eyes” (to use an over-used sports cliche) and have some vision for the application.  This approach limits the fan to only connecting with fans they know, it goes against the model of two of the web’s biggest movers – Twitter & Foursquare.  The release did not gain momentum released too close to the SuperBowl with only 139 check-ins to the big game.

It is hard to get traction with FanPulse if it only works if the onus is on you to get friends to join up.

Is there a rule that you can’t make new friends as an adult? According to Jerry Seinfeld yes (please indulge a Seinfeld fan).

When you’re in your thirties it’s very hard to make a new friend. Whatever the
group is that you’ve got now that’s who you’re going with. you’re not
interviewing, you’re not looking at any new people, you’re not interested in
seeing any applications. They don’t know the places. They don’t know the food.
They don’t know the activities, If I meet a guy in a club on the gym or
someplace I’m sure you’re a very nice person you seem to have a lot of
potential, but we’re just not hiring right now. Of course when you’re a kid,
you can be friends with anybody. Remember when you were a little kid what were
the qualifications? If someone’s in front of my house NOW, That’s my friend,
they’re my friend. That’s it. Are you a grown up.? No. Great! Come on in. Jump
up and down on my bed. And if you have anything in common at all, You like
Cherry Soda? I like Cherry Soda! We’ll be best friends!

But I digress, as someone who lives in the Web 2.0 world I disagree with Jerry as social networking platforms like Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn allow you can make new friends & connections.  What FanPulse needs is to add the ability to befriend other fans who have checked into the sports event as Foursquare does and as Twitter offers with it’s Nearby functionality.  This would make the app instantly more enjoyable as you can start shouting to other fans “virtually” attending the game.

As I blogged prior to my #sportsgeektrip I was hoping Foursquare would provide value.  What Foursquare allowed me to do was connect with fans in the stadium and send friend requests to those fans.  It allowed me to connect with sports fans in a foreign city as well as find out where they go before & after games.

Check out the Foursquare pages I attended games at:

• Madison Square Garden
• Staples Center
• Rose Bowl
• American Airline Center

Look at the Foursquare stats on those stadia! If you’re not excited about that data and what it means for sports then you’re in the wrong game.

Now I’m not writing off FanPulse but the key to a successful social network is numbers whether they be followers, friends or fans.  A few tweaks in the application to allow easy connecting with fans and it could take off.

Connect with Sports Geek on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn
Contact Sports Geek to find out where your fans hang out online.

foursquare is a new location based social networking tool available on iPhones, Android & Blackberry phones.  It allows people to “check-in” to venues they frequent like cafes, bars & restaurants.  These check-ins are reported back to your friends.

How can foursquare be useful to sports fans? As you check in you get to see other people also at the venue. This will enable more fans to connect via foursquare.  Connecting fans is what drives Sports Geek! Connected fans have a greater voice and can help great online atmosphere that we know exists at game venues.  Foursquare does a great job connecting the off-line world with the online world and will help more sports fans meet up at games.

Additionally you can send your check-in updates to Twitter to keep your tweeps informed just like this.

@seancallanan About to talk some sport on 774 (@ abc radio studio) http://4sq.com/6foHVe about 3 hours ago from foursquare

Take a look at Etihad Stadium if you want to find Melbourne Victory fans.  Imagine the check-ins at the MCG once the footy season kicks off.

I’m looking forward to checking-in at the Staples Center, Dallas Cowboys Stadium & Madison Square Garden on the Sports Geek Study Trip.

Stay tuned for more foursquare goodness from Sports Geek there is some terrific opportunities for sports using this technology.

Please send me a friend request via my foursquare page to follow my Sports Geek Study Trip.

If you’re interested in Sports & technology sports please join the Sports Geek LinkedIn Group
Contact Sports Geek for more info on the  Sports Geek Study Trip.