I might sound a bit too judgmental and far fetched when it comes to putting Sofanatics as being one of the most interesting startups from Finland. Primarily because it brings all football fanatics onto one platform that has the potential to be the buzzing stadium within a browser. Do I make sense?
Maybe not to many but for those who are die hard footballers would agree. I have seen crowds of people chanting and fighting over who will win a match on streets, etc, link them to others globally and capitalize on this engaging experience. That’s what Sofanatics has done with the international launch of Sofanatics during the FIFA World Cup last year. And it has gained popularity, enough to boast about in the first year.
Here are a few statistics shared by Sofanatics in a recent release:
- A global audience, with users from 178 countries
- 40% of the users coming from the US and the UK
- 30,000 plus registered users and growing
The number of registered users might be dwarfed when compared to other sites that are popular but given how it has grown since the last world cup – is remarkable. Now I might sound a bit skeptical here, but websites and portals such as these see a huge spike when a focused event takes place. To clarify, there is going to be a spike in activity, increased number of registrations as more users participate in the buzz being created.
What Sofanatics will or might eventually do is empower its community of users and let there be leaders who manage or do dedicated reporting on matches, provide insights, team and player profiles, et cetera. That would make their users feel more empowered and considered a vital part of Sofanatics, helping it grow further. So I guess Sofanatics saying that they will grow bigger in 2011, is quite believable.
