This is the last mash up summing the week in social media and sport before the Christmas celebrations really start!  It has been a fantastic year, a sentiment I hope you share too.

2012 is going to be another year of massive change in the world of social media as we see adoption rates accelerate and new technologies spring up.  With so many massive sports events to look forward to, including the first ‘social’ Olympic Games here in London.

Anyway, back to the week that was.  Here is your weekly round up…

David Villa on YouTube straight after surgery

Barcelona and Spain striker David Villa fractured his leg playing in the World Club Championships in Tokyo, meaning he will miss at least the next 4 months which may even extend to the Euro 2012 Championships.  To show his fans how we was getting on, his team posted a video of him coming out of surgery and then him giving a message to his fans.  This was posted on his own YouTube channel.  Who needs journalists to break news when the players can do it themselves?!

Super Bowl to be streamed online in 2012

Big news for all fans of the Super Bowl.  It was announced that next years big game will be streamed online by NBC Universal on their website and via Verizons NFL mobile app.  With the tight broadcasting rights around many sports this is going to be an interesting one to see what the uptake is like.  With the BBC planning to show all the Olympic sports via red button and their website next year too, could we see the rise of the internet enabled TV?

Canadian players develop own social media policy

The coach os a world junior ice hockey team is not on Twitter, and does really too much for it. But his players do enjoy it. So when it comes to making a policy for their conduct on it why not let those who know it best decide how they should use it?  It sounds like a great plan and appears to be working well.  Could this be the way forward for social media policy making?

Arsenal Facebook – Emirates 360 Panorama

As part of the clubs 125th anniversary celebrations, they have developed a Facebook app to enable fans to take themselves and friends who went to the Arsenal v Everton game on the 10th December.  Not a new idea but one that adds something new to their page and fans always like seeing themselves in the crowd to show friends.

Michael Owen fires back on Twitter to fan banter

One of the drawbacks for any ‘name’ on Twitter is that they are open to people throwing abuse at them or trying to wind them up enough to get a response.  This time it was Michael Owen’s time to lose his cool at one fan in particular.  It did seem to catch him at a sensitive time as he was tweeting about how he was upset by the amount and type of abuse levelled at Blackburn manager Steve Keen during the game against Bolton on Tuesday night.  Sometimes a simple ‘block’ or ‘block and report spam’ is the best answer though when emotions are running high it is easily done.

Pro team to sport Twitter handles instead of names on jerseys

Another trip over the pond to see what our friends in the US are up to.  This time it is one of the National Lacrosse League teams who have made some headlines.  They have announced that for their Feb 12th game each player will have their Twitter handle in place of their name on the back of their shirt.  In the meantime this requires each player to have a Twitter account and the club will be running Twitter training sessions in the lead-up to the game.  A bit of a PR gimmick but with the traning they are heading in the right direction at least.

Social Media and Football: a Match Made in Heaven

An article from The Wall Blog telling us something that most of us know, that football and social media are a perfect match with so much potential.  It takes a brief look at footballers and social, clubs and what they are doing plus a roundup of what the future holds.  It is a subject that could go on for much longer than a couple of hundred words as it does here but still quite a nice little summary.

Below are the slides I used to give when I spoke, along with Daren Forsyth, at a UK Sport conference with some of the National Governing Bodies present, all eager to learn more.

It gave a pretty top line overview as to what is currently going on in the world of social media and the impact this is having upon sport.  We went through the Opportunities that were now being presented and also the threats that this new world is bringing (as we have seen from many back and front page headlines over the last couple of years).

The aim was to open a window into this world as we realise it can be scary and the easy option is to pretend it doesn’t exist.  We wanted to make it a bit less scary, answer any of the concerns being raised by those there and create enthusiasm to get involved and be pro-active.

I’ll be sharing more presentations in the coming days from other people that I hope you will find even more interesting.  Any questions please fire away on here or email me at daniel@theuksportsnetwork.com

As we hit December and look back at a monumental year that 2010 certainly has been, we wanted to do more than just raise a Christmas glass of champers to it.  On a personal note  I have been lucky enough to meet many people who work on social media in different capacities within sports clubs, associations, athletes and brands as well get an awesome job with Carat Digital in London.

As part of our celebration of the year we want to find out who you see as being the most influential person here in the UK when it comes to Social Media within the Sports Industry.  All you have to do is fill in the survey you will find on this post and that pops up on the main webpage.

Nominations will be taken until the 15th January 2011 and the winner(s) will be announced at the next UKSN Networking Event which will be at the end of January in London.

Thanks to everyone for a great year and looking forward to an even better 2011.  Now get nominating!…..

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After 8 months in existance it has been an interesting journey for The UK Sports Network and myself.  Now that I am embedded full-time in the social sphere with Carat in London and the direction the articles and interest shown has taken I have believed for a while a revamp is needed.

Over the next few weeks the site will develop more of a focus on the digital aspect of sport, which I believe we already serve well at the moment.  This will not only include more focused writing but a new look to the site as well.

I would like to take this opportunity to get your feedback and insights.  What content would you like to see on the site?  should we do more interviews/product reviews/breaking news? 

Any thought you have are gratefully received and I will start to implement them as time goes by.  With me being London based I aim to run more events and spend more time on the site (great news!).

My ultimate aim is for the site to help filling those gaps in information that are going to be most useful within the digital sports market.

If you would like to become involved then do get in touch.  I want to bring together a group of dedicated writers who are professionals within the space and have a lot to offer.  In the meantime the site will continue as normal, I hope you keep enjoying what we offer.

Thanks again and look forward to reading your thoughts.

Dan

Monday this week saw the first co-hosting of an event between Sportsnetworker.com and The UK Sports Network.  LinkedIn author and speaker Lewis Howes was over from the US and, as is now customary, held an event for sports networking professionals in the city of his visit.

The venue was the Sports Bar & Grill at Marylebone Station where we were able to take over the function room.  In January a free event was held which attracted around 130 people.  With this event being a paid affair and the first one in London our estimates on numbers were a little bit if a guess.

We had in the end just under 100 register online and a further 30 paid on the door for what was a bustling, vibrant evening with a great diversity of people attending.  One of the more familiar faces to be seen there was SkySports presenter Kevin Cadle who was a hugely successful basketball coach with the London Towers before making the switch to presenting American Football coverage on the satellite channel.

The evening was sponsored by Football Fans Census who I would like to thank for their support.  Unfortunately Tim could not make it to the the venue himself due to a family illness.

I hope that everyone who attended enjoyed the evening and made some great new connections that will help with their businesses.  I had some great chats with Jim Cowan from Cowan Global, Andy Smith at the FA, Dennis Mills from Major Events International, Honor Hancock, Antongiulio La Corte, Jurgen Reid and many others.

There were some suggestions of how we can make the event better which I will take on board.  If you have any thoughts or suggestions then do get in touch as I am always looking on moving these forward and increasing the amount each person gets out of the night.

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