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Essay / New Marketing Strategies in the Age of Online Technology
Social media is defined as “websites and other means of online communication that are used by large groups of people to share information and develop social and professional contacts” (Dictionary. com). Social media has radically changed the mass media production and consumption of sports broadcasting and marketing. In today's digital age, media users have a wide variety of social channels at their disposal. There is so much information available electronically that searching for and obtaining information can become a daunting task. The creation of the Internet has opened the way to a multitude of communication possibilities that were difficult to imagine just five years ago. Not so long ago, people wrote letters by hand and used maps for directions. If some of these practices are still current, the Internet makes them archaic and digital resources have almost made them disappear. In addition to electronic retrieval of information, people are able to communicate and interact with others around the world, overcoming demographic and spatial barriers. These capabilities have only been amplified by the emergence of sites like Twitter, Facebook, and other major social media applications. By their nature, these sites allow the creation and broad transmission of content that fuels interaction, collaboration and community. These capabilities were available in the early days of the Internet, known as Web 1.0, but many operating systems are not equipped to handle the file sharing features so readily available on computers and mobile devices today . Additionally, many of these electronic forums were primarily one-way. The communication and interaction that occurs through what is known as Web 2.0 is demonstrated through social media (Sanderson, 2011, p. 2). According to Sanderson, researchers have suggested that Web 2.0 sites are "driven by social connections and user participation and have created a new Internet generation characterized by digital content creation and interactivity" (Song, 2010, p. 249). Social media provides people with accessible sites where they can connect with others to create and share content, and participate more actively in media production and consumption (Sanderson, p.2). These sites have gained millions of users in a relatively short time. Twitter is inherently designed to facilitate connections. Social media has become so ingrained in daily life that it is impossible to cover all possible areas and sectors in which it has produced changes. No other area has been as radically changed as sport. With the explosion of Twitter, athletes have become more accessible to fans, team and brand marketing has adopted new practices, and the way news and information is disseminated rivals mainstream media and sometimes puts athletes and organizations in disagreement..