Up until now, Twitter has been the social media platform of choice among sports fans who wanted to share commentary and connect with other fans and athletes. In an effort to bring some of that conversation to Facebook, the platform recently launched its Sports Stadium feature, which allows fans the opportunity to comment, follow with a live play-by-play, and share individual plays, sort of like you do on Twitter.
Although you aren’t able to actually live-stream the game, Facebook says in its recent announcement that Facebook Sports Stadium is “a dedicated place to experience sports in real time.” So, if your friends and family members are scattered in different locations you can essentially catch the game together via the sharing of commentary from experts, teams, journalists, and other friends and family members, as well as live scores, stats, and the play-by-play.
Facebook Sports Stadium includes four primary tabs. One tab will provide play-by-play updates and scoring as well as videos, while another tab will show posts from your friends that are game-specific, in chronological order. A third tab will show expert commentary from journalists, athletes, and teams, and the last tab will include game statistics. The four tabs neatly separate nearly every aspect of the game, allowing you to select the game-related content that you want to follow — something that Twitter does not yet offer.
The new sports feature makes its debut in time for the playoffs and the Super Bowl. It also aligns with the recent announcement that the platform will work with Nielsen TV ratings on user engagement and TV content, which has also been an area dominated by Twitter. Facebook Sports Stadium is currently available for American football games for iPhone users in the U.S., and support for other sports, including basketball and soccer, as well as other platforms, is expected very soon.
