What sports blogs do I read? Probably too many but when so much great material is being shared it can’t be helped.
Here is a list of 30 sports, sports business & sports marketing blogs I read regularly.
You should too, Sports Geek approved. 
Any more I should add to this list?
Would love to hear about your faves, hit me up with a comment.
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Best of Digital Sports World #8Sports on Facebook is tracking the Facebook activities of World Cup fans by passion, popularity, intensity, region & group.
World Cup getting strong TV ratings in the US after the draw with England. Even 2M+ Australians got up at 4:30am to watch the Socceroos fail against the Germans.
From the world of NBA USA Today talks to Jeanie Buss about Twitter, Phil Jackson and working in the NBA.
32 Creative and Clever Sports Posters to Inspire You
@Mashable took us Inside Gatorade’s Social Media Command Center
Andy Pawlowski (@pawlow34) uses his learning from the Digital Disciple series with Facebook: 5 Things NCAA Programs could steal from the NBA
A look at the roles involved in social media in college athletics from @ZachLassiter, what do you think of the Protector, the Entertainer, and the Interactor?
Dwight Howard building his endorsement base via his Superman persona from @sports_business
@Harry_O is running another competition via Twitter engaging with his fans looking for a “fresh” photo.
If you didn’t catch it, here is our look at the Andrew Johns saga and how the Australian Twitter community responded, a must read fro any athlete manager.
Good to see the @AFL mix it up engaging with fans via different Twitter accounts. Waiting for @NRLHQ to tweet…
We’re launching a fan fixture forum called My AFL Season on afl.com.au tomorrow. Join the conversation on the hashtag: #AFLfixture
AFL Insider
AFLInsider
Twitter is doing it’s best to bring World Cup fans together with it World Cup 2010 page. You can track tweets from games providing a twitter commentary when you mute the TV for vuvuzela relief.
Kobe Bryant fan needs to be seen to be believed…
Book your ticket for SRG Conferences
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
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
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.
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.
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
Edition 2 of #BODSW, lets get cracking…
Harry O’Brien’s open letter to Barack Obama – great example from AFL footballer @Harry_O on how an athlete can use blogging & social media to achieve goals outside sport. Here’s the Herald Sun’s take on Harry’s request.
NBA using social media to support charities – another way sports can engage fans using social media.
What You Need to Know About Facebook’s Recent Announcements – great recap from @GoSam on how you can use the latest Facebook changes for your web properties
Gold Coast – Do you like me? – @GoldCoastFC quick to jump in on the Facebook changes to stir up new fan support for the AFL’s newest team.
Sport selling its soul to big market players – The Times [UK] looks at the money behind sport
How Social Media Is Changing Golf – report from the #140conf held in NYC on impact of social media on the Golf from @jasonpeck
Why you shouldn’t blame YouTube for removing all of those Hitler videos – interesting article on trying to solve the copyright problem that faces sporting leagues & digital rights holders as well as TV & movie studios.
The issue of athlete identity theft hit the papers again this week regarding fake athlete (AFL) accounts on Twitter. Last time I spoke about this issue on SEN’s The Run Home regarding identity theft on Facebook. If you want Sports Geek’s take on how athletes can handle the problem of online impersonators then check out my post – Fake sports stars can damage a personal brand. Kudos to Collingwood’s Harry O’Brien extending his social media work from Twitter to Facebook to Harry’s World website and taking control of his online brand.
How do you get rid of these fake athlete accounts? Contact Sports Geek for more info on how to eliminate fake accounts in your sport.
What about the general public – how do you know who to follow & who to listen to? Who is real?
Is it a real person or a real brand? It may be nickname or an online name but if the name looks suspect don’t bother following.
What is their Twitter avatar?Same question – is it a real person or logo? Admittedly some people use cartoon avatars or non-descript pictures but they maybe just shy.
Some fakes use the same avatar on multiple accounts if you see the avatar repeated in may be a fake or an automated account.
Gives you some insight into what they will tweet about and how that might interest you to follow back.
This one is more subjective as some people relate follower numbers with influence & expertise. This is where you look at the follower to following ratio. High following numbers can be automated via tools to automatically follow people on keywords. Twitter tries to restrict this by implementing rules & guidelines but they can be exploited by third-party follower tools. How can you spot an inflated follower count? They are following as many people as they have following them – maintaining the Twitter 1:1 ratio. However many of those accounts may be automatically following back to increase their follower counts as well. These accounts use technology that works on following people & unfollowing them 24 hours later if they haven’t followed back, churning through the Twitterverse looking for accounts that automatically follow back.
Sports Geek Tip: High follower numbers does not automatically equal expertise or influence.
This is the main criteria I use to decide whether I follow back.
What are they tweeting about? Is it topics of interest to you?
Who do they tweet with? Do other people you know tweet with them?
If they just broadcast and never engage in discussion, will it provide value to me?
Now that might seem like too much to check, yet it only takes 10-15 seconds and allows you to have a stream of quality tweets in your field of interest.
Fake accounts crave attention and followers if you don’t follow them you don’t have to worry about them.
If you want to follow me please do so @seancallanan (I talk about sports & tech funnily enough) or for article & blog posts from @_sportsgeek_.
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