Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has developed a new feature that targets sports fans. Dubbed Facebook Sports Stadium, the new feature is meant to allow sports fans around the world who are using the Facebook platform to follow live sports events on the platform.
The feature will work by acting as a melting point of all the information that emerges about live sporting events. Fans can then easily connect with the entire goings on about live events by using the platform. This lets fans connect with each other, comment on live commentary and generally stay in touch with live sporting events.
Writing in a blog-post that was used to announce the new feature, Steve Kafka, the person who is in charge of products at Facebook, said that the new feature is a culmination of years of listening to feedback from users of Facebook and striving to provide for them what they exactly wanted. The company said that the new feature will make it more engaging and entertaining for fans to comment on live events and follow sporting news on a real-time basis.
Facebook Sports Stadium is not an entirely new feature on the market. In truth, it is modelled on what other social networking platforms are already doing. Twitter has been known for the manner in which its users are able to engage with each other and make tweets on live events. So common and effective has the practice of live tweeting become that many people now identify twitter with it. Users of the service are able to create a buzz by tweeting and re-tweeting about the progress of live events.
ESPN, on the other hand, provides a collage of news about live sporting events. The news items are aggregated and provided on one platform for users to easily access them. Furthermore, fans can follow live sports commentary by different journalists on this platform. This approach has also made ESPN a popular site for sports fans, especially during live events.
And in an interesting turn of events, Youtube lately made an announcement to the effect that it is also testing a feature that will make it possible for advertisers to make live advertisements to its users during live sporting events. The idea behind the feature is similar to what Facebook has just decided to do and what the likes of Twitter and ESPN have been used for.
Therefore, what remains to be seen is how effective Facebook Sports Stadium shall be in terms of being popular among the Facebook users and attracting advertisers.
