As some of you may know I’m a huge basketball fan and I live in the UK. A few years ago this meant following the NBA could be difficult at times. It often resulted in struggling to stay awake at work or school after staying up until 4 a.m. the previous night to watch a game.

The explosion of social media has made it so much easier to keep up with what’s going on not just in the NBA but across the world of sports. It has also given fans unparalleled access to their favorite teams and athletes. Personally, I feel there has never been a better time to be a sports fan. Here are some of my best reasons why:

• Behind the scenes access: At no time in the past have fans had such insight into what goes on behind the scenes. This was really highlighted at the recent NBA All-Star weekend where many players were sharing behind the scenes videos and images on their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The NBA also did a great job of sharing content and engaging fans in the All-Star weekend, an event that for many people has lost its shine. You can check out some of the video content shared by the NBA during All-Star weekend on the leagues TwitVid account.

• Interaction: Social media has opened up the opportunity to interact and engage with teams, athletes. A few years ago if you wanted to speak to your favorite athlete you could send fan mail and wait a long time for a response. Now you can speak directly to them and you might even get an instant reply.

Many athletes use social media to show us what they are like away from sports. It gives an insight into their personal lives, allowing us to feel closer to our favorite athletes when they show their true personalities.

• Everyone has a voice: In the past only a select few journalists, writers and reporters were able to share their views about the world of sports. Now social media has opened up the doors for all sports fans to write about their teams and share their views.

Whether they are writing a blog and sharing views or sparking discussion on Twitter and Facebook, there is space online for everyone. It has become a lot easier for fans to make themselves heard.

• Multimedia content: I’ll always have to stay up until 4 a.m. to catch an NBA game live in the UK, but the fact that I can now catch highlights online any time saves a few sleepless nights.

Multimedia content and video on demand services allow fans to keep up with their team at a time which is convenient for them. Fans love multimedia content and from an organization/team viewpoint, this content generates the most responses from fans. It can add great value to their social media profiles.

Sure there may have been times when your team was doing better and winning more games, and here in the UK at the moment many of our football clubs are in deep financial trouble (which could be a counter to this argument). However, I feel it’s an exciting time, and the best time EVER to be a sports fan. Thanks to new technology in the coming months and years it’s only going to get better.

What are your best experiences of sports and social media? Has social media changed the way you follow sports?

###

Image by Chris Pederick

Image by Mr. Wright

About Ash Read

Ash is the co-founder of FundSport.com a grassroots sports community providing sports clubs and athletes from around the world with professional, easy-to-understand advice and articles on all aspects of grassroots sport including sponsorship, fundraising, the Internet, social media, club management, PR and marketing. As well as being passionate about the development of grassroots sport Ash also has a keen involvement in the sports social media industry. You can follow Ash on Twitter at @ashread14

Web | Twitter | Google+ | More Posts (17)

(This is a guest article by Stephen Lombardo)

For what seems like an eternity, the NBA has lost some of its appeal to its fans when it comes to All-Star weekend.  The game is the most entertaining part.  However, they don’t actually play basketball until the final five minutes of the game.  All-Star Saturday feels like it doesn’t even exist.  HORSE, the newest event of the weekend, showed its crucial flaw this week when they turned it into a three-point shoot out until someone was declared the winner.  The point guard time trials feel a bit lame, the shoot out is ok, but the slam dunk contest (the NBA’s marquis event) feels like less than a shell of its former self.  How do you save this event, and bring back the excitement there was in the 80’s and 90’s?

Well first of all, we cannot bring back Jordan and Bird to resurrect this event as much as we may want to.  Instead the NBA should introduce a new twist to the weekend.  One idea would be to host a one on one tournament that features the All-Stars playing that weekend.  Set it up by having 16 of the players compete in this event.  Give the fans a chance to see the game’s greatest players decide it amongst themselves who the best player in the NBA really is.  We watch all the best players play against each other during the regular season, but that’s with their teams playing with them.  Instead of us having to imagine what it would be like to watch these great players face each other as if they were out in the schoolyard why not just make it happen?  What do you feel is more attractive?  Nate Robinson going for his 3^rd or 4^th slam dunk title, or LeBron James playing a game one on one versus Kobe Bryant?  I think the answer is obvious.

Setting up this tournament would be pretty basic as well.  You can have them play to 11, 15, or 21 as if they were playing at the schoolyard.  Attracting the players would be easy also.  Give them a cash incentive for playing in the tournament and let it go from there.   These athletes would love to compete with one another in something like this.  Making the clientele easy to attract.  The NBA would easy blow away every other idea that the NFL, MLB, or NHL could have to make their event better.

Although the NBA could be in a state of crisis this time next year, we all know they will be back on their feet just like every other sport has in a time of CBA peril.  This idea surprisingly has not gotten a lot of play.  Instead they think they can come up with better ideas to save this lost weekend.  So far none of them have worked.  This one could not only save their All-Star weekend, but also perhaps change the way other leagues run their All-Star events.

###

Stephen Lombardo is a recent graduate of St. Johns’ University, with experience working for the Staten Island Yankees. Previous experiences also include working at CBS during the NCAA tournament in 2009 and writing for a fantasy baseball website. To learn more about Stephen connect with him on LinkedIn.

.

Image by sdk

Image by rondostar

About Lewis Howes

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (187)