I saw the press releases via TechCrunch announcing FanPulse a new iPhone app just days before the SuperBowl.
Now I love the concept of connecting fans (so much so it’s our tag line) but after playing with the FanPulse app I was disappointed with my initial experience.
FanPulse relies upon the user to grow their on network by inviting friends via the usual methods – Twitter, Facebook & Address Book. As a new app it needs to “lift it’s eyes” (to use an over-used sports cliche) and have some vision for the application. This approach limits the fan to only connecting with fans they know, it goes against the model of two of the web’s biggest movers – Twitter & Foursquare. The release did not gain momentum released too close to the SuperBowl with only 139 check-ins to the big game.
It is hard to get traction with FanPulse if it only works if the onus is on you to get friends to join up.
Is there a rule that you can’t make new friends as an adult? According to Jerry Seinfeld yes (please indulge a Seinfeld fan).
When you’re in your thirties it’s very hard to make a new friend. Whatever the
group is that you’ve got now that’s who you’re going with. you’re not
interviewing, you’re not looking at any new people, you’re not interested in
seeing any applications. They don’t know the places. They don’t know the food.
They don’t know the activities, If I meet a guy in a club on the gym or
someplace I’m sure you’re a very nice person you seem to have a lot of
potential, but we’re just not hiring right now. Of course when you’re a kid,
you can be friends with anybody. Remember when you were a little kid what were
the qualifications? If someone’s in front of my house NOW, That’s my friend,
they’re my friend. That’s it. Are you a grown up.? No. Great! Come on in. Jump
up and down on my bed. And if you have anything in common at all, You like
Cherry Soda? I like Cherry Soda! We’ll be best friends!
But I digress, as someone who lives in the Web 2.0 world I disagree with Jerry as social networking platforms like Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn allow you can make new friends & connections. What FanPulse needs is to add the ability to befriend other fans who have checked into the sports event as Foursquare does and as Twitter offers with it’s Nearby functionality. This would make the app instantly more enjoyable as you can start shouting to other fans “virtually” attending the game.
As I blogged prior to my #sportsgeektrip I was hoping Foursquare would provide value. What Foursquare allowed me to do was connect with fans in the stadium and send friend requests to those fans. It allowed me to connect with sports fans in a foreign city as well as find out where they go before & after games.
Check out the Foursquare pages I attended games at:
Look at the Foursquare stats on those stadia! If you’re not excited about that data and what it means for sports then you’re in the wrong game.
Now I’m not writing off FanPulse but the key to a successful social network is numbers whether they be followers, friends or fans. A few tweaks in the application to allow easy connecting with fans and it could take off.
Connect with Sports Geek on Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook & LinkedIn
Contact Sports Geek to find out where your fans hang out online.
Sean, Thanks for noticing FanPulse, and for writing about us!
We certainly appreciate your perspective on making new connections – its a common part of a lot of social networking platforms. We at FanPulse are trying to build a way for friends to easily talk to each other about sports – and the iPhone app is our first step towards doing that. We believe that sports are most fun when you are sharing them with your actual friends, and we think there are enough untapped conversations to be had amongst friends. That’s not to say that we won’t help you find new people to talk to (or talk-trash to), but we’re not quite there today.
We’d be happy to tell you more about where we are going, and how we are thinking about getting there.
Vish, Thanks for the comment.
Like I said I love the concept of connecting fans at “virtual games”, I think you’ll find sports fans will look to connect with fans of their teams as they share a common bond.
I know as a displaced Detroit Pistons I look forward to chatting to fellow fans on messageboards & forums about the Pistons no matter how poorly they are performing ;(
I’ll be in touch about a followup to see how you plan to grow with Fan Pulse.
Intersting article and one that definitely relates to me. I would first like to commend Vish for the good job he and his partners have done with fanpulse.
You could say we are competitors due to the core functionality of our services. I am the founder of http://www.fantator.com which allows fans all over the world to give live minute by minute updates on sports matches taking place. I think the fact that we both have similar services shows that this area of social media is about to take off, and i do believe the ultimate winner would be the fans. Thanks
Thanks Peter I’ll check out FanTator & yes I think sports fans are the big winners applications are developed for sports.