The dead tree media are continuing to come around to Web 2.0. To wit: the announcement yesterday that venerable leather-helmeted Sports Illustrated is making a big boy move and will acquire sports community FanNation. The belly-up further illustrates a begrudging awareness by the old media that Bubble Generation consumers see themselves as citizens not subscribers.
It has been clear for some time that something dramatic was needed to shake things up at sleepy SI. The flagship Time, Inc. property (accounting for 20 percent of corporate intake) has been sucking wind on line behind more interactive sports sites like ESPN.com, Yahoo Sports, AOL Sports, and CBS SportsLine. On January 30, the SI site relaunched with a new look and feel and a video-heavy design. Two days later, the FanNation deal cements SI's intentions to be a player.
Given that the BubbleGen demographic--15 to 25--is the sweet spot for sports advertising targets, it was only a matter of time before Time came over to the dark side. BubbleGen sports fans need more than an online magazine, they need a community within which to trash talk, debate and chest beat. It is the perfect Web 2.0 environment. Want to know where the future of social media is heading? Spend some time in online sports communities. Go Bosox!
FanBoom puts the power of sports information in your hands. At FanBoom you can track all of your favorite teams, and writers (national and local), read the best of the sports blogs, and interact with robust community of fans of your favorite teams. You won't have to go anywhere else.
Posted by: FanBoom | November 17, 2007 at 07:43 PM
Nice post. You should check out http://www.OurPlaybook.com which is a new community for sports fans of both pro and college sports.
Posted by: Jessica K. | July 19, 2008 at 02:48 PM