Facebook Inc is tackling the sports arena with a new platform called Facebook Sports Stadium, which the social media site said will provide real-time updates on games, popular posts from fans, statistics and commentary from experts.
Facebook, which said it had an average 1.01 billion active daily users as of September, reports its fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, Jan. 27.
MichaelAaron Flicker, president of XenoPsi, a New York City-based marketing firm, said the new product is Facebook's attempt at capturing "in the moment" engagement.
"They don't have that piece of the puzzle," Flicker said. "The challenge for Facebook is there are already a lot of communities (like Facebook Sports Stadium). This is not a unique offering."
The service can be accessed by searching for an individual game.