Broken News - San Francisco Giants Open Social Media Cafe

While some teams are left wallowing in the past, some are blazing a trail for the future.  Professional teams that are ahead of the curve on the technology side of the game are the subject of envy from many top industry executives.  Social media has been one of those technologies that some teams find themselves on a road to success while many are left scratching their heads in the dust.

The San Francisco Giants have been one of those trailblazing teams for some time now.  Just check out some of their stats from a press release on Monday:

They currently lead all of baseball in Instagram (over 255,000) and Google Plus (over 1 million) followers; are ranked fourth with 434,000 Twitter followers and fourth with 1.69 million Facebook fans. Of the top 10 trends in sports for 2012, #SFGiants ranked fifth, ahead of #Jeremy Lin, Super Bowl, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant and the New York Yankees. In 2012, AT&T Park was the third most "checked-in" Facebook venue in the world, behind Times Square and Disneyland.

The Giants have taken another big step forward, this week announcing the opening of their social media cafe called "@Cafe."  The cafe will serve coffee, tea, and your typical cafe affair, but it will feature TVs showing the batting practice for those that arrive early and the game.  @Cafe's big feature is its video board that will show Giants-related Tweets, Instagrams, Facebook content.

bayareasportsguy.com

One of the most recent social media projects from the Giants that I thought was well done was a question and answer session on Vine with outfielder Hunter Pence.  Vine, a social media platform where users post 6-second videos, has been tough for many to figure out how to leverage.  The Giants, of course, found the way by having fans send their Vine of a question using a specific hashtag and Pence would then answer in a 6-second Vine of his own.

Innovation is key on social media as the space becomes more crowded by the day.  The teams that get it are the teams that use social media as a way to connect with fans and more than just a simple PR broadcast extension.  The San Francisco Giants are on the cutting edge, what is your favorite team doing?

Follow Kevin Rossi on Twitter @kevin_rossi.

Relationship of Payrolls and Success in MLB

With the 2012 MLB season over, the San Francisco Giants for the second time in three years have finished on top. The success of the Giants has been a surprise to some because of the lack of big names on their roster compared to other big market teams. Major League Baseball has often been criticized for the disparities of payrolls which allows bigger markets to acquire the big name players.

Looking at the playoff teams this season, not all of them ranked high in team payroll.

American League

New York Yankees rank 1st in payroll at $197,962,289.
Oakland Athletics rank 29th in payroll at $55,372,500.
Detroit Tigers rank 5th at $132,300,000.
Baltimore Orioles rank 19th at $81,428,999.
Texas Rangers rank 6th at $120,510,974.

National League

Washington Nationals rank 20th in payroll at $81,336,143.
Cincinnati Reds rank 17th in payroll at $83,309,942.
San Francisco Giants rank 8th in payroll at $117,620,683.
Atlanta Braves rank 16th in payroll at $83,309,942.
St. Louis Cardinals rank 9th in payroll at $110,300,862.

The payroll disparity in Major League baseball is obvious. The number one payroll is nearly $200 million dollars which is nearly four times the amount of the team that spends the least. Looking at the payrolls in baseball it is obvious that money is not the only factor involved in winning. Teams like the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox who rank 2nd and 3rd respectively in team payroll failed to make the playoffs.

Final Thought
It is impossible to say that having the ability to spend more money is not a clear advantage in any sport. The better players demand a higher salary and only a hand few of teams are able to take on their cost. It is important to realize that being able to spend money does not ensure that you will have success. It is critical to understand that how teams spend their money is the true determinant of whether or not they will have a winning team. If rules were made that forced teams to spend similar amounts of money, the talent of a teams front office would become more critical in a teams success.

 @dmrosen7

Statistics from CBSSports.com