If you morphed Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, you'd end up with something called 'You Twit Face'. Of course, you would. Glibness aside, clearly this technology is a major element of our society's zeitgeist. It's part of the modern fabric of how dating, business and friendships are conducted, not to mention adding a new dimension to the voyeuristic cult of celebrity-watching. So how does social media influence our lives, particularly when it comes to sport? Two Hong Kong social media specialists and a marketing expert give their views to Robby Nimmo
There are almost two billion people online. And of those, around three-quarters visit social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Renren and Sina Weibo. The boom in social media has changed all industries and facets of society. Sports, naturally, is not immune.
Social media, by its nature, is social. It succeeds because it helps people create, collaborate and share. This means businesses need to reinvent themselves around the people they're trying to influence. This is a challenge for many sporting bodies that have traditionally been closed organisations.
Sports bodies and athletes have reacted to social media in many ways. Some, like the English Premier League, have embraced the phenomenon and engage with hundreds of thousands of fans through sites like Facebook.
Athletes have also grabbed the social media opportunity, with mixed results. Some, such as All Black and former New Zealand Sevens star Cory Jane, seized Twitter as a way of growing their personal brands.
Others have struggled with the freedom the new media offer. For example, former Liverpool striker Ryan Babel was recently fined ?0,000 (HK$125,380) when he tweeted a link to a mocked-up picture of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt following Liverpool's 1-0 FA Cup loss.