How social media has changed the way we experience football

Social media is probably the best thing that happened to football after the inclusion of the offside rule. You have memes, banter, bite-size news, and fan groups full of thousands of supporters voicing their own opinions.

You even have footballers branding themselves and advocating different ideologies on and off the field. The internet has managed to amplify everything related to football, and social media is the hub that merges it all.

The language of football is effortless for people who are into it. These micro fan clubs with two or three random people at the workplace or school campus can manage to light up the most insightful dialogue. Then there are the big fan gatherings that have slowly grown into the mainstream. The most notable ones are the "Brazil vs Argentina" conversations that have been proactive since the day the FIFA World Cup graced Bangladeshi CRTs. Every World Cup, these fan bases gather, watch matches, celebrate their team's achievements.

Now, imagine a medium that can dial up all that passion and fun to the maximum, and you get social media.

The amount of content social media delivers is endless. First, you have the fan-made content – memes, explanations, deconstruction ranging from small pages to huge football groups. Although these things are often misguided, they are also fun, and the amount of clout they generate may even lead to group-politics that generate intrigue of their own.

Then you have the big-time channels and pages that are posting about everything that's going on related to football. From transfer news to snippets, podcasts, and scorelines, these pages dip their toes into everything. Bleacher Report, 433 or even our very own Plaantik are perfect examples of such media, churning out international as well as local footballing content.

There are fan channels on YouTube aimed at specific fan bases like AFTV for Arsenal fans or The United Stand for fans of Manchester United. These channels roll out equally impressive content. You get fan cams, interviews, match commentaries and much more catered towards individual fan bases.

At present, athletes are dishing out content themselves. They are now in a position where they can speak their mind about important stuff and raise awareness about them or simply stream their gaming skills for hours. You also have accomplished goalkeepers like Ben Foster who's putting GoPro clips on the Internet for fans to see matches from a goalkeeper's point of view.

But footballers, at the end of the day, need to play football. And when they fumble at their jobs, the same people that are celebrating them now will drag them down.

As 21st-century football fans, we are getting spoiled by the ridiculous amount of content we get every day. The joy of football is not restricted to the weekly matches anymore. We are getting new content all the time. From transfer news and highlights to even banters and memes, the footballing world is booming online these days. Football is already huge, and it'll only get bigger with social media. For better, or for worse.

Syed Tamjid Tazwar is a contributor at Shout. Contact him at syedtazwartamjid@gmail.com