This week is going to be dominated by two major things; 1) SXSW – the gigantic event in Austin, Texas has just kicked off and you can expect to see a massive amount of tweets, blogs and news articles coming out from this. Always interesting to see who is talking about what and what the major/new platforms are doing. 2) Formula 1 – the first full season under the new ownership by Liberty Media is almost underway. Digitally it will be fascinating to see what F1 and the teams will be up to when it comes to Melbourne on 25th March.

Facebook will stream exclusive live Major League Baseball games for the first time (cnbc.com)

Bit of a social media live stream theme to some of the headlines today. The big story from the end of last week broke on Friday with the news that the internet giant will exclusively stream 25 (definitely not primetime) games for the coming season. proving that Facebook are continuingly testing both the market for live sport on their platform, plus the technology needed to make it happen.

Tencent makes major investments in streaming platforms (sportbusiness.com)

Talking big internet businesses and live streaming. China’s dominant force invested in not one but two Chinese companies who offer live streaming within the country. What does this mean for sport going forward? No idea.

Giorgio Chiellini launches new official App (medium.com)

Individuals as brands, especially those heading towards the end of their careers is a growing trend. Whether it’s tech investments by Andy Murray or Thierry Henry, or building massive brands such as Beckham or Cristiano. I’m not saying Georgio is going to head down that route, but he’s teamed up with IQUII to bring together his 7m followers across social media to his own hub.

Gfinity to Broadcast Global Elite Series Exclusively on Facebook (gfinityesports.com)

Back into live streaming again…and also Facebook. This time it’s Gfinity and the wonderful world of esports as they start season three of the Gfinity Elite Series that kicked off last weekend on Facebook. We’ll be interested to hear about this at our Digital Sport London event at Gfinity on 27th March!

The Grim Conclusions of the Largest-Ever Study of Fake News (theatlantic.com)

Nothing like finishing on some grim reading. News of this ambitious study came to light last week and you’ve probably heard it mentioned on the news today. We all know that #FakeNews or just blatant lies have been dominating social media feeds. But sadly it’s not just down to the bots, it’s us!

According to the survey the bots spreading fake news are no more likely to get virality than if they published true stories. What gives it that boost is people like you and me, so is it something about human behaviour that has led to this news crisis?

DIGITAL SPORT RECRUITMENT…

Senior Channel Manager – Leading YouTube Channel