Facebook Unveils Sports Stadium Feature
Despite all controversies and negative brushes with authorities, Facebook seems to be soaring through and not stopping. The social media seems to be taking on its competitor Twitter and sports channel ESPN with a new sports feature it has just unveiled.
The social networking site's latest feature is called the Facebook Sports Stadium. This will be an avenue where live sporting events will be reported, meaning fans can follow and get live stats on their favourite games, check out what their friends are saying and see the expert commentaries that journalists are saying about the teams or the leagues.
According to Facebook product manager Steve Kafka on his blog post, sports is a global interest that connects people around the world. Their new tool will make connecting over sports engaging and more fun. Kafka also said that they will continue listening to feedback to make it even better. With the new tool out, Facebook seems to be challenging the one advantage that Twitter has for the past years, which is live tweeting and specifically its tool called Sports Twitter.
Let's take a moment to discuss what Twitter is and what it can do. Twitter is a social media tool known for posting a 140-character limited message. For the past years, this tool has been improving and developing features like live tweeting, which is known to have captured user's attention, especially when there is a current event happening across the globe that is making users talk about it at that moment.
However, with the limited character required when posting a message, plus the constant stream of unfiltered tweets, and add the difficulty of finding people to follow, new users find themselves feeling alienated while trying to use the service for the first time. And some old users are even finding themselves alienated by this goings-on on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Facebook has from the start of its creation been more user friendly than Twitter. However, it lacks the buzzing of the crowd when there is a special event happening. This time, though, with its new feature, things might start to change a bit. It might actually now get the roar that it needed from sports fans on special gaming and sports days.
The Sport Stadium is being launched by Facebook in time for the Super Bowl. So for now, expect it to be focussed on anything football that fans would like to gobble up. Eventually, the social network plans to expand its coverage to basketball, soccer and other sports.