ESPN.com Enables Facebook's Automated Sharing

For example, ESPN.com last week began rolling out Facebook’s social sharing product on select news pages. Users who opt in will automatically alert their Facebook fans to what articles they are reading on the site. For example, today a user would see a notification when one of their friends reads an article about Magic Johnson leading a group to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The plan, according to Michael Cupo, ESPN’s director of social media content and strategy, is to eventually incorporate the Facebook “enable social sharing” button throughout the site, first on text pages, and down the road within ESPN’s video player.

ESPN’s partnership with Facebook is noteworthy—given ESPN’s size and clout in the media space—and in particular because of the terms of the Facebook arrangement.