Where is Social Media Headed?

We’ve got another workplace distraction on the horizon.
On April 4 when the Philadelphia Phillies play the New York Mets, Facebook will show the first of 25 midweek, daytime Major League Baseball games.  Viewers will be able to watch the live stream on smartphones, tablets, computers and other connected devices, including home TVs.
A little more sophisticated than a Facebook Live event, the Facebook Watch games will be produced by the MLB Network so they should look like any other game on TV. Except it’s not really “on TV.”
Seriously not on TV, as games available on Facebook Watch will not be televised by the teams’ reginal sports network.
Who remembers when Facebook was just a place to keep in touch with former classmates?

Is this where social media is headed?

Facebook’s MLB games add to its sports lineup. Last year, Facebook gave a thumbs-up to agreements with Fox Sports to stream the UEFA Champions League (soccer) and with Univision to broadcast live games from Mexico’s top soccer league. Additionally, Facebook had 20 non-exclusive MLB games last season. It also acquired exclusive rights to stream 47 college basketball games involving smaller conferences this year.  And lastly, you can even find NFL highlights on Facebook.
Twitter was the first to live-stream Thursday night National Football League games, but those rights now belong to Amazon.  Twitter still streams NFL programming and highlights, but not live games.
Whether it’s sports, news or citizen journalists with their cell phone in-hand, this fits into our insatiable thirst for live coverage of anything — anywhere we can find it!