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MLB Launches Social Network For Fans

Major League Baseball is partnering with Vixlet to launch a new social network for baseball fans called, appropriately enough, “MLB Fans,” the pro sports organization announced this week.

The online social platform will allow baseball fans to connect with their favorite teams and players as well as other fans, and enable them to post personal photos, videos, comments, and “likes” for a range of baseball-related content. They’ll also be able to access a huge library of MLB videos, photos, GIFs and commentary, all updated daily.

MLB Fans offers access to other MLB properties including MLB.com At Bat and the MLB.com Shop, and is integrated with other social networks, so users can share content from MLB.com via Facebook and Twitter. The platform is compatible with iOS and Android app, and available for both mobile and desktop.

The new network is just one of several social media initiatives from MLB, which is looking to raise baseball’s profile and boost engagement at a time when other pro sports like football tend to hog the limelight.

Earlier this week MLB announced that it is one of the launch contributors for Twitter Moments, a new feature intended to make Twitter more accessible to casual users by compiling tweets about high profile, ongoing events.

Back in May MLB struck an agreement with Snapchat to contribute video, as well as user-generated baseball content, to Snapchat’s “Our Stories” feature, with a series of weekly stories called “MLB Wednesdays.”

Every week Snapchat curates content submitted by fans at MLB games and push it out to Snapchat users. The content includes highlights from up to five games a week throughout the regular MLB season, and mostly consists of a curated feed of posts made by fans during live games. It also draws on content from the MLB’s own social media teams assigned to cover games.

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