The adaptation of the new media by Celtic seems to me to be the club, for once listening to the views of the fans. For years, we have demanded that club answer back to their critics and speak to the fans more – and at last Celtic seem to have taken the bull by the horns and are playing the media at their own game. The fact that the club have allowed Lennon to set up his own Twitter account shows that Celtic are actually playing the game of speaking directly to the fans rather than through the traditional media sources. Also, the fact that Celtic View media guy Tony Hamilton has his own Twitter account – @polishturnstile shows that the club seem to be new media seriously. The establishment of the Facebook page – facebook.com/CelticFC is also interesting, as it seems to be used as a gathering place for Celtic fans online. It has over 30,000 members already and does seem to be a good resource on the club at the moment.
The long-awaited new website – www.celticfc.net – seems to be based on Man City’s website – www.mcfc.co.uk – and is an improvement on the last design – for a start it does seem to feature a lot more video content, but it does feature an awful lot of averts. Intriguingly though, the site claims that Celtic will soon have their own official iPhone and Android apps, which would really show that the club is moving forward to embrace new media. It wouldn’t be a major surprise to me if the the club started to release Celtic View online, via an app, which could cost the same as the newspaper version.
The bottom line seems to be this – more and more people are getting their football news and information online these days, with major transfers and important team news often being posted first on Twitter before going to more ‘official’ outlets. New media is the way forward – and Celtic seem to be doing their best to keep up with the trends.
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