‘Interactive’ is a word commonly flung around by sports organisations, but the reality is that our codes either don’t understand the potential of social media, or aren’t keen on fan interaction going beyond token family days.
Take the AFL website, for example, made up of articles and videos, just like an online paper.
It all comes from the league, so is perhaps a bit ‘produced’ for the average fan. The only real interaction comes from footy tipping comps and fantasy football, which doesn’t have much of an effect on anything besides egos.
The NRL site is not much better. It’s a shame because, if done well, there are so many benefits from increased interaction for both fans and organisations.
For fans, getting more actual interaction will lead to more of a feeling of being a participant in a community, as opposed to being a spectator. It makes things like online polls a bit more exciting if the result could actually lead somewhere.
The other great thing is that online social interaction can be done instantaneously from the couch. Basically, it’s just better entertainment.
There are even more benefits for the relative organisations. Putting ideas out on social media gives the organisation an instant marketing survey. Higher fan interaction also means higher traffic on sites.
Fans feeling part of a community are more likely to invest their hard-earned into said community. User-generated content is a cheap way to keep a code or club’s website rolling.
Football is one code that has had success with fan interaction, used effectively in the creation of the Western Sydney Wanderers and the A-League All-Stars.
So just how far could social media interaction go?
There are all sorts of possibilities. Fans could get to pick teams for equivalent all-star games (AFL State of Origin, rugby Barbarians, and so on).
Supporters could at least choose who faces a press conference. Wikis (fan-driven information sources) might help with scouting between leagues. Players could make themselves available for interviews online.
Obviously, as technology moves forward, the possibilities increase. Fans are smart enough to know what they want, as opposed to being to being spoon-fed what other people choose.
It’s time for sport to fully understand the importance of the social media world as part of the overall media universe.
Lee
Guest
I agree that social media is important, but part of the reason that Australian sports haven't adjusted to it, is because the pond is too small. As the article draws up Australian sports to international ones, such as soccer and basketball, we need to remember how much bigger these sports are than say, AFL. Barely anybody outside of Australia knows what AFL is, or cares. This reduces the pond by a massive margin, when compared to successful sports that have literally billions of fans across the globe. I like where you're going with the article though. I work in digital marketing and as with most things, Australia is behind the 8 ball constantly when it comes to taking on trends and technologies. What I think would work well, with regards to your suggestion about fans being able to select players to form teams for certain games, is to use the CASTROL INDEX. This is a mechanism used in soccer whereby (get this), every single touch, pass, play, move, shot on goal, incomplete pass, completed pass, kilometres ran throughout a game, fouls, blocks, corner, and headers, PER PLAYER, are recorded analytically by scientists, and used in an algorithm to rank every player, from most effective to lest effective. It basically analyses how good a player really is, and when you look at these intricate statistics, a lot of interesting data comes up, shedding light on players that don't have great PR machines (cough...Buddy Franklin/Ablett), allowing them to be recognised more by fans, coaches, and in the transfer market. This technology is light years ahead of anything Australian sports do, which is where the problem lies and remotely, is tied to the issue of not adopting new ways of doing things, i.e. social media management. This is a similar system that Arsene Wenger used at Arsenal. They're constantly in the top 3 or 4 year after year, and contain a team with objectively, no real standout players aside from Ozil. How did he achieve this level of success in a league with billionaire club owners, an almost endless money bank tied to Russian titans, and the power of American magnates (Malcolm Glazer)? He used a system similar to the aforementioned, and snapped up every hot youngster that was overlooked by competing coaches, and formed a mighty team in the process. Being an economist before he was a coach (so guys, this is where you don't have to be a player to understand the game), he understood that while statistics like goals and assists, don't completely tell you the game, measuring a human being (as wrong as that sounds), can be mathematically possible. He used this system to identify undervalued players, ones that didn't have great sports agents pushing them out there onto the grounds (listen up, young Socceroos!), or perhaps they didn't perform well at previous clubs. Why didn't they perform well at previous clubs? The analysis showed that they were played out of position. Coaches didn't use them to their best abilities. Switch them from winger to attacking midfielder and you have the next superstar. How many players' careers dwindled into oblivion because coaches didn't use this system? It pains me to think about it. In conclusion, if fans had access to the CASTROL INDEX the way soccer fans do for their sport, then fans would be able to make better, more informed, logical judgments about who should and shouldn't play in these games you mention. It would add something extra special too, since you'd have the chance to find a legitimate rising star! Great article by the way. Good to see somebody else understands the power of social media.