Website aims to become the Facebook of football

Nov 25 2010 by John Hill, The Journal

NEWCASTLE entrepreneur Ed Browne plans to take advantage of interest in English football's top flight with social media site iFanShare.com.

Browne has teamed up with school friends – fellow 23-year-olds Jamie McAdam and Alex McDonnell – to create the site, which has just been launched in its beta form.

Browne said: “We created iFanShare because of the rising success of social media with today’s users. If you go to Facebook you can talk about football, but only a small percentage of your friends will be interested in what you have to say. If you go to iFanShare to talk about football, your friends are 100% interested in what you have to say.” IFanShare aims to allow football fans to post comments for other users, as well as submit blogs on Premier League performances, controversies and trends. The founders worked with Newcastle’s KI Media to develop the site, and plan to introduce new features as the month’s progress.

McAdam and McDonnell set up online marketing agency AJM Digital earlier this year, but were interested in promoting the sport “on a viral scale”. The founders believe there is potential in creating a forum for social media discussion of one of the world’s most high-profile leagues.

McAdam said: “We wanted to create as much buzz about English football as possible as we have seen websites try to focus on a widespread area such as Europe and you just don't get the same fan interaction. Not only that but English football is the pinnacle of world football.”