Social Media’s Changing Legal Landscape Provides Cautionary Tales of “Pinterest” to Sport Marketers, pp. 47-49

Alfonso N. Cornish
Ben Larkin

The use of social media as a communication tool to engage others has rapidly proliferated over the past decade (Wallace, Wilson, & Miloch, 2011). According to the Pew Research Center, 73% of all online adults were using social media as of September 2013 (Brenner, 2013). Facebook leads the way with 71% of all online adults using the platform in 2013; however, a growing number of individuals are also using other emerging platforms such as LinkedIn (22%), Pinterest (21%), and Twitter (18%) (Duggan & Smith, 2013). Further, approximately 42% used multiple social media platforms (Duggan & Smith, 2013). The prevalence with which consumers access and utilize these tools has made it especially attractive for marketers. With approximately half of the U.S. population ages 18-35 actively following a sport team and 35% actively commenting via social media, mobile marketing strategies have become especially attractive for sport marketers (Keller, 2013).