The Big South Pumps Facebook into their Blog

What do you think are the two most personal forces in Social Media? I'd make the case that they are Facebook (where your friends are) and Blogs (where you go into more depth).

But we rarely see those two forces joined together... And what if they were perfectly fused together? We'd get the network effect and reach that Facebook delivers with the content and authenticity a blog can drive.

The Big South takes a monstrous step in that direction...

Hit the Big South Blog, playfully named "Big South Shout," and turn your attention to the right hand side of the page. The astute reader of this blog will see a familiar site -- the callout to follow the league on Facebook.



But scroll down a hair (I'll do that for you) and take a full look at the Facebook tout...


As you can see, it isn't simply a call to action (Become a Fan) nor is it simply a list of those fans. It is a pull of the latest posts from Facebook piped right into the blog.

The beauty of this set up comes in the fact that we now have a separate way of keeping the Blog alive. And it ensures that the blog won't solely be a mirror image of Facebook (or vice versa). Once you port one site into another, it forces you to see things as part of a joined ecosystem, rather than of isolated parts.

Check them out on Facebook for yourself, here.

How could this be better? I'd love to see more interaction from Facebook. Maybe it's polls. Or caption contests. Or guest reporters. But it feels like Facebook could become a force that complements the blog rather than a separate entity that updates within the blog. If the Big South can solve this, they go a long way to building a connection with their fan (or prospective student athlete!)

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the Big South! And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.

Andy