For this week’s blog post, I wanted to look at the role Facebook has taken in professional sports in America. Not surprisingly, every professional sports team that I searched for in the MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA has a Facebook page. Why would these teams feel a need to have a Facebook page? First of all, it is a place to generate more support for their team. Facebook has grown to be a part of millions of Americans daily lives. Professional sports teams are businesses, and they realize this trend of ever expanding Facebook and want to exploit it in order to get the most support, which in turn leads to more revenues, and ultimately, more success on the playing field. Let’s look at the Boston Red Sox as an example. In terms of the business end of their Facebook page, one of the first things you see on it is a tab where you can purchase tickets and view their schedule. This makes it much easier than having to go on sites such as stub hub, because it is all on Facebook and just a few clicks away. There are also many times on their newsfeed that they advertise ways that a lucky fan could win free seats to a game. The Red Sox, like many other professional sports teams, also utilize Facebook to create a positive public image for themselves, and show how they are involved in the community. One example of this can be seen in their newsfeed where the title of a status was Red Sox serve dinner at New England Center for Homeless Veterans. Another similar status was The Red Sox take part in the Greater Boston Food Bank’s Chain of Giving. Being involved in events like this certainly make for a positive public image and make them appear to be very likeable. Being likeable can only lead to more fans, more success, and more money, which in the end is what it all comes down to, whether that’s a good thing or not. Of course they do things to try and entice new people to become fans and follow them, but they also provide information for the long time fans, such as myself. The status of players, their contracts, and other such things that matter for the upcoming season are constantly updated on their page to keep their audience informed on what they are doing and the direction the team is going in. Professional sports teams really do use Facebook to its full advantage in order to improve their own organizations.