Building on the success of its official YouTube channel, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) has created pages on the popular social networking sites Facebook and MySpace as it reaches out to a new generation of fully-wired, technologically-fluent racing fans.

With more than 60 million users, Facebook’s fastest-growing demographic is those 25 years and older, while MySpace remains the largest social networking site in North America with 110 million monthly users, 85 percent of whom are over the age of 18.

“Developing these pages are part of a viral marketing strategy we’ve recently implemented that targets a demographic of racing fan that NYRA has not effectively and actively communicated with in the past,” said Neema Ghazi, NYRA’s Director of Marketing.

The new Facebook and MySpace pages allow NYRA to increase its brand presence, share news and events with the community and stimulate discussion among users. The New York Yankees, Manchester United and the Los Angeles Lakers are among the dozens of sports organizations that have developed pages on both Facebook and MySpace.

“These platforms are excellent mediums through which NYRA can engage its fans,” said Ghazi. “A website like Facebook can serve as a useful feedback mechanism that inevitably encourages continuous dialogue between racetrack executives and the racing public.”

The New York Racing Association, Inc. operates the three largest thoroughbred racetracks in New York, Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, Queens; Belmont Park in Elmont, Long Island, and Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Links to NYRA MySpace & Facebook pages:

NYRA MYSPACE
NYRA FACEBOOK