Business social

ESPN and the Use of Social

NetworkingBy Katie Powell

Social Network Sites Thousands of social networking sites Some open sites, some invite-only Connects groups of people into a

community May vary on specific interests like

age, gender, race, occupation, personal interests, etc.

Top 10 of 2010

FacebookMySpaceTwitter

LinkedInClassmates

MyLifeNing

LiveJournalTaggedLast.fm

Who Uses Social Network Sites?

Other than individuals, many businesses use these sites

Small businesses use sites to inform and expand

Large businesses use sites to continue to expand

Even huge corporations use them

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network

American television network dedicated to all types of sports

“The Worldwide Leader in Sports” Consists of sporting events/news

(such as Sports Center), sporting talk shows, sporting documentaries, sporting films, and original series

Expansion Originally began as a television network Expanded to the Internet, www.espn.com As well as ESPN radio ESPN International Entered European market w/ version of

ESPN Classic Purchased North American Sports

Network Began broadcasting in Ireland and UK for

first time

ESPN Zone

ESPN HD

ESPN Internat’l

ESPN America

ESPNClassic

ESPN

More Coverage for Fans 24 hour sports coverage ESPN shifts over to social networking

sites ESPN Facebook available Added plug-ins on Facebook link page

to ESPN’s websites ESPN Twitter

• Able to follow ESPN, Sports Center, athletes, coaches, ESPN reporters

More Coverage for Fans Account with

espn.com, sends e-mails with updates and game coverage

ESPN Local• Local apps through

iPhones and iPods• allows people to

receive local news stories and game re-caps through their iPhone/iPod

• ESPN Local launch

SportsCenter

First SportsCenter Broadcasting

Daily sports news TV show

Launched in ’79 Created by John A. Walsh First episode on ESPN

hosted by George Grande & Lee Leonard

Shown up to 12 times a day

That day’s scores, highlights from games, commentary, feature stories, and previews

Getting Fans Involved 1994 launch of ESPN

Sports Poll Fantasy Leagues Facebook’s ESPNU

“College Town” Message boards for

fans to comment• www.boards.espn.go.com

Conversation pages• www.espn.go.com

Positives on Use of social networking and New

Media increases ESPN viewers daily Large coverage allows fans to rely on

ESPN and its sources Worldwide coverage of all types of

sports bring in more countries to broadcast in

Use of New Media combined with social networks= High competition

Negatives for Other Businesses

International Business Times, 28 April, 2009: “63% of companies fear Facebook, Twitter affects corporate security”

Put company’s IT infrastructure at risk

Companies worried about cybercrime: victims of spam, phishing, and malware attacks through sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn

International Business Times article