Devoted to online marketing, viral marketing, and web marketing

When Sport Illustrated announced in January that they were going to purchase FanNation, it was considered so small that people were wondering what the $20 million was going for. There were others that thought it was a pure play to get access to the technology.
 
Now only a short time after the relaunch of the site, FanNation already has 4 million unique visitors and 30 million page views.

Fans visiting the site can comment on the stories written and create their own blogs and groups around their favorite players or teams.

What's great about a site connected to sports is the passion that accompanies it; something Web 2.0 especially caters to.

In the spirit of ancient Greeks, the site also has a debate feature called Throwdown where two members will debate and have the community vote on who the winner is.

In what I think is a smart move, they kept the site as a separate brand, giving fans the sense of ownership in it. At the same time, advertisers know who's behind it and are more willing to market on user-generated content more than they were in the past.

SI Digital president Jeff Price said, "We are ahead of plan and budget in terms of driving revenue against it."

In reference to how it helps the SI.com site, Price added, "[FANNATION.COM] has a finger on the pulse of the fans all the time. They are emotional, and we can put our claw in them and let them tell us what they think."

They've written lead stories on the Web site based upon some of the passionate responses of fans, letting their comments lead them in some of the ways they want to take things.

This is going to continue growing for some time. I'm wondering what will happen when the Football season comes around? I'll bet the traffic will explode.