A number of researchers have found that a number of fans participate heavily in social media making a match of sports and social media something for marketers to pursue.
But so far who gets it right? Whose actually using social media as social media vs. using it as a megaphone?
One of the best right now is ESPN and their marquee show Sports Center. Here is one examples of how Sports Center gets it right. You can submit a video to Sports Center that may get picked up for their Top Ten plays. You simply send your video to YouTube and send it youtube.com/espn. Pretty simple. They review the video and it may appear on Sport Center. This keeps the sports from being overly pro and shows the amateur side of sport. This is one of the reasons ESPN is doing things like ESPN LA and Chicago. They can feature local sport heroes and their highlights without spending anymore money on personell. People do the reporting and submissions for them.
What people need to remember is that social media as a channel works both ways. While ESPN has many followers and many people who watch their YouTube videos, they do a great job of using social media to source content for free and continue to build their brand. I mean who wouldn't want their 15 min of fame on Sports Center? How cool is that!