I love soccer. I have played it since I was three. So naturally I love watching soccer too. My favorite MLS team is D.C. United. I grew up watching them play and going to their games. Being so enthused by soccer and D.C. United, I decided to check out their website and see what they were doing to collaborate with their constituent groups. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have their own blog! The comments on the blog are not pre-moderated and the comments are part of conversation with real people, according to the blog’s “About Us” page. The page also says that the comments will only be deleted or censored if they are vulgar, abusive, off topic or blatantly spam. I think that this form of open communication is great to maintain the relationship between the club and its fans.
I found through the blog a “contact us” page which included an address, email addresses to customer service, ticket information, community relations and United for D.C., and phone numbers. Allowing for a two-way conversation will help foster relationships between stakeholders such as customers and the press. After browsing through the blog, I found that it offers several different types of media for its audience. There are contests, polls, photos, news and even video! There is a separate page on the blog for pictures and videos and D.C. United also has a Flickr account. A reader can search through the archives of the blog by either date or tags.
D.C. United’s main website also provides several interactive media tools to help collaborate with its audiences. It has press releases, articles and videos available for the press to use. I also thought that their page on what the team is doing in the community was excellent as well. I think it is important for its constituents to see not only how the team is performing on the field but how they are performing in the community as well. This helps build their relationships even more as well by developing trust. Fans can also follow the team on Twitter. I was very happy to see that my favorite MLS soccer team was taking steps towards becoming a more collaborative entity through the use of social media!
Jacalyn Albright's Blog 