Facebook Head of Global Sports Partnerships Dan Reed explained the role his social network plays in the world of sports during a featured interview titled on Day 2 of the ’15 Intersport Brand Engagement Summit. Reed started by saying that Facebook’s involvement in sports is much larger than he realized before joining the company eight months ago. He shared statistics demonstrating the platform’s influence in sports, including the 65 million users who recorded 265 million interactions on Facebook during this year’s Super Bowl. Reed said that two users who have used the platform as well as anyone are Patriots QB Tom Brady and the Warriors. He called the authenticity of Brady’s posts crucial to his rising popularity -- the QB is now a top 10 property in terms of Facebook popularity, individually outranking 22 teams. Reed said that the Warriors’ devotion to social media -- the team’s new ownership group arrived in ’13 and immediately added 10 employees to its social media department -- has paid dividends, as Facebook is now the team’s No. 1 paid media source. He highlighted the way the team has steered away from pumping sponsored content as one of the reasons fans have been pleased with the team’s Facebook presence.
