Dive Brief:

• Facebook announced a new specialty hub within its platform this week: Facebook Sports Stadium.
• The hub gives users a community around sporting events that includes play-by-play updates, live stats, commentary and Facebook content from experts such as teams, leagues and journalists as well as Facebook friends about the game.
• Facebook Sports Stadium should give advertisers a highly targeted audience reachable in a specific spot within Facebook – and all engaged with a real-time event.

Dive Insight:

Twitter has typically been the go-to social media platform for commenting while watching live events on TV, and Facebook Sports Stadium is a clear attempt to grab some of that engagement. From a user perspective the hub might be attractive because of the value-add content and information that goes along with the community commentary. For advertisers it could be a less risky and therefore more attractive bet because instead of taking advantage of trending hashtags and topics on Twitter, there’s a clear destination for marketing efforts.

"You can follow the action as the game unfolds with a live play-by-play, and even like, comment on, and share individual plays. You can also get up to speed quickly with live scores and the most discussed plays. It’s a second-screen experience that we hope makes watching the broadcast even better," Facebook Product Manager Steve Kafka wrote in a blog post. "You can get to Facebook Sports Stadium by searching for the game, and we’ll surface new ways to get there as the product evolves."

Currently Facebook Sports Stadium only covers American football games on the iPhone in the U.S., but expect to include other sports such as basketball and soccer as well as other platforms soon.