SportsYapper
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SportsYapper continues to be a fun place to talk sports
SportsYapper keeps you in touch with other fans of your favorite teams and gives you the chance to share those special moments with like-minded sports fans even if you are watching a game at home by yourself. Dave Caolo first looked at an older version of SportYapper in 2012 and recommended it as a sports fans' own social media app. SportsYapper can replace Facebook and Twitter as an outlet for your intense and sometimes questionable comments as you live and die with your favorite teams. You can log in to the app with a Facebook, Twitter, or email account. If you want to keep your frenzied thoughts off those accounts, SportsYapper is the perfect outlet. Users get 300 characters per comment so it is easier to express your real feelings at the height of the game, after a tough loss, or a wonderful victory. The basic operation of the app is just about the same as it was for our earlier review. Users establish a profile with the usual information, name, user name, password, etc. They then go through the extensive list of sports and pick out their favorite teams. All the major leagues, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, are included along with both college basketball and football plus the top soccer leagues from the US, Europe, and Mexico. You will also find general topics such as NASCAR, golf, track and field, MMA, and the Olympics. The user interface is slightly different but still easy to use. Users can now choose to "Hangout" in a team page or at a specific game. You can also check to see if your friends on the site have posted any comments, or "Yapps" as they are called. Or check out another new feature. Find photos uploaded by other users from the game or the place where a group of people are watching, or just anything other fans want to share. SportsYapper's alert system has been upgraded so you can be reminded when your game is about to start, when someone replies to your comment, when friends log in, or if you get a "high five" from another user. Similar to a "like" you can now give out "high fives" to other fans' comments. This is a new feature that mimics what fans would do if they were watching the game together. Another new feature allows you to search for any of your Facebook or Twitter friends on the site or you can send out an invitation to them to start watching the same game you are. I know from experience it is always a lot more fun when you can root and talk with other fans while the game is being played. SportYapper provides that opportunity even if you are alone. We recommended you take a look a couple of years ago and now with even more features SportsYapper is still well worth your time.
SportsYapper for iPhone offers conversation for sports fans
Any sports fan will tell you that the experience of watching the game is better when fellow enthusiasts are on hand. Unfortunately, it isn't always easy or possible to gather everyone around the same TV. Fortunately, SportsYapper for iPhone and iPad (free, universal) provides real-time, Twitter-like conversation just for sports fans. You can follow a team, a fan base, live games and more. Here's my look at SportsYapper. Origin I spoke with CEO and co-founder Eric Goldstein about the beginning of SportsYapper. He and his buddy Dave Grossman were lamenting that there wasn't a Twitter-like solution just for sports fans. A place where they could cheer and bemoan the highlights and lowlights of a given game in real time with like-minded fans. "Eventually we said, 'Why don't we just build it?'" That's exactly what they've done. %Gallery-158930% Use Now, I know what you're thinking. "Why not just use Twitter? Or even Facebook or text?" Those are good questions and the answer, in fact, helped inspire SportsYapper. "Managing text conversations with several people during a game can be a hassle," Eric told me. "On other social media sites, you might craft a certain persona. A professional one, for example. You might not want to introduce your passionate sports tweets/updates to that service." I'll add that some of my Twitter followers who dislike sports become annoyed with my torrent of Red Sox tweets. That's understandable, especially if I'm watching a close/important game and getting a little carried away. SportsYapper is a welcome alternative. When you launch the app, you're prompted to log into Facebook (Eric assures me that an alternate Twitter login is coming). Fear not: you can opt to prevent the app from blasting your wall with updates. From there, you'll see four buttons across the bottom of the main screen: All Yapps Teams Game On! Alerts Friends A "Yapp" is like a Tweet. Unlike Twitter, SportsYapper gives you 300 characters per update. "We didn't want fans to feel inhibited," Eric told me. "In the heat of reacting to a close call or huge score, you don't want to stop and compose a limited message." You can browse yapps from all users or just those you've designated as friends. The Teams feature is nice. Add your favorite(s) and filter yapps accordingly. Again, you can further sort those results into friends vs. all. Game On! is the marquee feature. To use it, tell the app which game you're watching. As you do, your friends will be alerted (Dave is watching the Red Sox vs. Yankees) and prompted to join in (this notification can be turned off). From there, enjoy the live ribbing, cheering and gnashing of virtual teeth. The Alerts section informs you of pending friend requests (both issued and filled), while Friends lets you browse users in that category. Conclusion I watched a few games this week with fellow members of The Nation and it was a lot of fun. That sense of camaraderie was in place and I didn't feel guilty about posting a flood of updates. It's a lot of fun to know that all of the users are just as excited about the game as you are. SportsYapper is available now from the App Store. Those who like to watch the game with far-flung friends really ought to check it out.
