• Previous blog
• Next blog

12:03PM November 16 2011

The Red Network

Manchester United has set about plans to create a social media platform to allow the club to engage with fans all over the world.  With an estimated 650 million fans worldwide, the aim is to bring them to one place, but can it be done?

Looking at this from a purely social point of view I’d like to think this gives fans the chance to know more about the club they love. This would enable them to speak to United and other fans across the globe, the club could share exclusive content only available to registered users; videos, interviews with players, or possibly the chance to interact live with players depending what route they choose to go down.

The single biggest advantage for the club and their American owners must be the revenue from advertising and sponsorship that could come with this type of platform. When you look at the value of Facebook (around $84 billion) and the amount of users (over 800 million), then look at the potential United fan base, and you’ll see the numbers are not far apart.

A big stumbling block to the success of such a plan could be the way people can behave on online. Some people will try to wind others up, and from experience I can tell you that football forums are one of the worst places for this. People share very different views on the work rate, and the passion or the commitment of players that have been known to result in heated debates or abuse. This could potentially put people off wanting to join a platform that exists solely to talk about football.

Another big problem that Manchester United might face is whether they’re social enough to pull this off. Reviews of their current use of social media are not flattering. Research by Lewis PR pointed out that United use Facebook to broadcast to their fans rather than engage with them, so you have to ask yourself, will they change if they have their own platform? I think a club that’s been very ‘unsocial’ with their attempts so far at social media will struggle to make a platform like this work.

You can’t argue with the numbers though, Manchester United do have a dedicated following that will no doubt give this a try, it’s up to the club how successful they make it, and in return how much money they make off the back of it. If they can create a social platform that allows fans to interact with the club and other fans then sponsorship & advertising deals will not be far away.

Whatever happens, it’ll definitely be worth keeping an eye on how a club that seemed almost afraid of social media back in January 2010 will manage their own social platform.