There are many social networks catered towards the athletic community, such as eFans, Weplay, Sportsmates and others. And fan-based social networks like SuperFan and TopFans also let users pay homage to professional athletes. LockerBlogger is entering the already crowded space as a sports-centric community that connects athletes, coaches, and fans.
The social network’s hook is to get pro and famous athletes to create profiles where they can blog, post video content and give fans an inside look into their lives and training. In turn, fans can connect with professional athletes in a more engaging way.
Professional athletes can create “Pro” profiles and blog, post a voice messages, put up photos and videos. Athletes can aslo link their accounts to their Twitter stream, and access the streams (and Tweet) from LockerBlogger. And the profile is a marketing tool that athletes can use towards branding. Coaches can feature “How-To Video Clinics ,” which are videos about various skills in the fields that they have expertise in. Coaches can also post schedules, put up pictures and videos of previous games, and send out messages.
LockerBlogger already features more than 140 pro athletes, including Don Mattingly (MLB), Lawrence Taylor (NFL), Larry Johnson (NFL), Sam Casell (NBA), Jason Kidd (NBA), and Chad Morgenthaler (pro fisher).
Whie LockerBlogger has a sleek interface and innovative multimedia features for professional athletes to use, the obstacle the network will face (besides competition) is being able to drive traffic to its site. But LockerBlogger says it will soon implement Facebook Connect and launch a Facebook App.
I found out about eFans few weeks ago and I love it, also got their executive summary and their ideas and strategies are pretty impressive. I think they can make it.
There is a site called Prolebrity by Marcellus Wiley that is really good at finding athlete-owned restaurants and businesses. But it needs to be more interactive to the average fan.
I’m a long time NBA fan and looks like LB has a nice locker for me to have a face to face look of my fav basketball stars. Wow!
This lockerblogger.com is actually very different than all of the other sport social networking sites. It has a good platform of old and young athletes who seem to actually be on the site and speaking directly to the fans. This looks to me to be the one that will outshine the others. Guys I think this one it. I really like this!!!
Oh goody another “niche” social network…
Its going to be tough to get pros making millions to sit down and blog, but most of them don’t even get their asses off the bench so maybe they can blog then…:)
Chad actually the athletes are very much into their blogging and communicating. Plus this is the wave of the future for athlete because of ad revenue sharing. With I phone and bberry apps this is a winner and easy for them
I have a good friend that recently started to use this site and has really enjoyed the layout and potential of the site. It really gives an amazing platform for sports fans that want to start blogging or those with blogs to really connect directly to audience. I think it has a lot of potential – they should be able to build a decent amount of traffic as the word spreads.
The site is hot and its growing. There are some amazing fans as well as athletes on the site. The site is really more dynamic than other sports sites because it offers a three-prong strategy to focus on pro’s, fans and coaches. I see a lot of potential here…
True, it is hard to get athletes to come along and blog – but I think even the most successful jocks are beginning to recognize the importance of a strong presence in a sports-centric media community. And it also gives mid-level professional athletes a chance to build their own fan base. I like it…
I agree with the comment before. I think this gives athletes a platform to really begin to create dialogue with their fans. Twitter is cool but often seems impersonal when used by professional sport stars. I think it just a matter of time till this site really begins to spread.
I just checked out the site. I think it is totally cool that they have a whole contingent of former sports stars that are really active. I was able to contact and have a conversation with Dwight Gooden and Don Mattingly…um, that is kind of awesome! I am scared to get close with Lawrence Taylor though…JK.
who are the people behind this site? have they raised money? from who?
the article is so vague. where is all the background info?
interesting concept, but I doubt the pro athletes keep coming back unless they are compensated in some way. lots of athletes accomplish the same goal on Facebook and can instantly connect with millions. for these guys to succeed, they will have to drive tons of traffic which will be difficult.
Could be a good platform for aspiring athletes or those end-of-the-bench guys trying to generate a following
Do I smell astroturfing?
http://en.wikip...ki/Astroturfing
One might also want to check out http://www.fanbase.com which does an excellent job of letting athletes and fans augment athlete profiles from Pro down to college.
I’ve been working on a sports social network idea as well. Steve Nash just created a network called MakeItPro.com
I just spent few hours having fun with eFans, and I love it, it looks pretty good to me.