Soccer and Social Media

The 2010 FIFA World Cup has begun – thirty-two teams battling for a chance to lift the cup on July 11th. The last World Cup was four years ago in 2006, which doesn’t seem all that long ago. I remember watching the final between Italy and France in Belden Lane, here in San Francisco. I was with a French friend who, upon Italy’s win, immediately switched allegiances so that we could fully participate in the North Beach celebrations. Italy is not a favorite team of mine, I find them prone to dramatics, but France had cheated a much deserving Irish team out of being there at all so I wasn’t enamored with them either, leaving me to find a way to enjoy the revelry no matter what the outcome.

Four years doesn’t seem all that long but in terms of social media, it’s a lifetime, and the effect social media has had on this World Cup is huge. There are endless streams of Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, and blogs all dedicated to the tournament. I’m currently following two Twitter feeds and am ‘liking’ one Facebook page, all while watching the BBC’s play by play commentaries anyway. Sadly I am lacking the wherewithal to circumnavigate my company’s internet security and stream it live.

It was only in 2006 that Twitter and Facebook came to be, and only then after the competition was nearly over. Yet now it’s hard to imagine a world without them, isn’t it? It seems perfectly normal that people can shout their chants and hurl their insults to each other as if they were together on the stands. It’s even possible to share the FIFA World Cup President’s (Joseph S. Blatter) experience of the game as he tweets from @seppblatter. According to Twitter employee Robin Sloane, “… The World Cup will eclipse everything we have seen so far on Twitter, including the U.S. election, the Oscars, or the Super Bowl simply because it is so international.” Maybe this will finally make the US appreciate football (I'm British, I can call it that) for what it is, ‘The Beautiful Game.’