With the huge success of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), entrepreneurs have been looking for ways to add social elements to niche interest areas. Some examples include Spotify for music and even Pinterest for photos.
So, why not do the same for sports? Well, that�s what Eric Goldstein and Dave Grossman did. They created a new and increasingly popular app called SportsYapper. It�s becoming the way sports fans can cheer or commiserate with each other about their teams.
Think of SportsYapper as the �second screen.� That is, it’s what people look at while also watching TV. The app is available for Apple�s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone and iPad as well as devices running on Google�s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android.
In fact, SportsYapper caught the interest of Mark Teixiera, the New York Yankees first basement, who has since become an investor in the venture.
A key to SportsYapper is that it allows people to focus on their interests, without having to deal with pain of Twitter-style hashtags. It also eliminates a flood of Twitter posts, such as from sports fans relaying often-annoying play-by-play updates on �games. This has actually become a big problem with Twitter. Oh, and SportsYapper lets its users write posts of up to 300 characters, more than twice Twitter’s limit.
As with any new social app, it’s impossible to say if SportsYapper will be a category killer. Expect to see other operators to launch.
Despite all this, the market looks primed for a sports-focused social network. And so far, it looks like SportsYapper has the first-mover advantage.
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPOPlaybook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He also is the author of �All About Short Selling� and �All About Commodities.� Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not own a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
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