Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Social Site’s New Friends Are Athletes

I found this article on the New York Times Website. It talks about a new social network for atheletes that will be launced mid April. It targets a vast audiences including atheletes, parents and coaches. Athletes will be able to set up a profile including a picture and will be able to communicate with friends and team members. They will also be able to post videos of games. Parents will be able to access practice schedules and coordinate carpool arrangements and learn which equipment to buy. Coaches will be able to communicate with their players and parents and learn about strategy and other skills. Steve Hansen, the chief executive of WePlay states, “Youth sports is held together by e-mails, phone calls and clip boards. We want to change that.”

I think this type of social network is a great idea. It allows easier methods of communication among team members and parents. It sounds like it will be convenient allowing everyone to access the information.

6 comments:

Vanessa F said...

I think this is a really great idea since it incorporates both sports, which appeals to the athletic aspect of children, as well as the computer and online, the lazy aspect of children. It seems that for children and even people ranging to the age of mid-twetnties both sports and the computer play some sort of role in their life, so this company was smart to create the page.

Tanya Gesmondi said...

I think this is an AWESOME idea. This is a great opportunity for high schoolers to post videos and their stats for college recruiters. Recruiters can go to this page and scout someone across the country that they might not have seen otherwise. I definetly think this idea is going to take off.

Ben Frechette said...

I as well think this is a great idea. This could be an excellent tool for coaches (at a higher level, particularly college and up). I am suprised this idea is so innovative considering the role sports plays in our society today.

Eric Postemsky said...

I think this is great because it allows not only athletes to network with coaches but it allows parents can see what things their son/daughter mentioned not to tell them, when practice is, or a game is cancelled, etc. I can remember back in youth sports when phone calls and a schedule were a necessity and now this makes those things available to anyone with a computer.

Laura said...

I think they already have a few sites like this. One of them has lots of information on players at different colleges, as well as other statistics about the school and the athletic department. It helps kids find which school might be right for them and it allows coaches to check out player statistics.

Nicole St. Jean said...

I think its great that social networking sites can be incorporated to almost any business, activity, interest group etc. The concept has opened the gateway of communication on the internet so we can communicate and interact with people with similar interests all over the world! I think eventually, we will be seeing a lot more clubs, businesses and community groups implementing social networks, it's great for almost any business.