Earlier on Wednesday, Boston-based sports media site Fancred took two monumental steps forward in its development. Previously known only as a sports social media platform, the site is beginning its march into the realm of expanded sports content. The first aspect of this is simple: iOS users can now find scores and get score updates on the app. The second is far bolder: Any user can now provide live streams.

The iteration of Fancred is the latest in a multifaceted strategy that CEO Hossein Kash Razzaghi identified as the future of the site. And it speaks to the company’s ambitious goal: to become the next global sports media company.

“I think the best way to describe it is to really start with what we see as the future of sports and sports media,” Razzaghi told BostInno. “And I think the next global sports media company really will do three things really, really well. The first thing that it will do is create a social environment for fans to interact and engage.”

“We think there’s a huge opportunity for Fancred to be a platform for fans to give their perspective and sharing their opinions on the state of their team.”

In that regard, Fancred is already a success, having accrued a massive and loyal user base. Fans interact on personalized news feeds, expressing themselves through their various rooting interests in a unique online sports ecosystem. Now, the Boston company is pursuing the second of its three goals.

“The second component that I think it will do really well is create a stream of content that is personalized and curated for the fan.”

The major question has been how best to pursue such a general goal? Fancred’s answer, at least for the moment, is twofold.

“We obviously started at Fancred by building a social platform for fans to engage,” Razzaghi noted. “And now we’re moving more towards the other pillars. And specially with editorial content, we’re starting with scores.”

“Now fans can come in and get updates and scores on their games,” explained Razzaghi. The simplicity of it is at once both a good starting place for the site’s new evolution, but also an extremely underrated and useful addition.

Yet the second new side of Fancred is much more flash. Live streaming will now be possible for both major content providers (Razzaghi mentioned the ACC Network, as an example) as well as individual users. Anyone can live stream infinitely (though each stream is capped at five minutes).

“Secondly, to sort of stay on that content theme, we’re launching with live video,” Razzaghi said. “Live video really blends into both social and editorial.”

So, to review quickly, here’s what Fancred has that’s new:

• Live scores and updates (which will also include what channel a game is on)
• The ability to launch unlimited five minute live streams

(Also of note: The updates only apply to iOS users for the moment. No date was given when Android users can see the changes, but Razzaghi said that it was coming as soon as possible.)

Fancred envisions that its rabid user base can be drawn closer through live streams, with rants, reactions and game day experiences.

“We think there’s a huge opportunity for Fancred to be a platform for fans to give their perspective and sharing their opinions on the state of their team,” said Razzaghi.

Additionally, Razzaghi identified that team partnerships will help to provide interesting uses as well. He singled out a “behind the scenes at Fenway Park” as something to specifically watch for.

In terms of how long ago Fancred has been planning its multi-component site strategy, Razzaghi admitted that it’s been a work in progress.

I’d be lying if I said that from the beginning we didn’t think that there was huge potential to be more than a social network, but we’ve been doing this thing for two years now. And the benefit of doing something for long enough is that you learn a lot. And one of the things that we’ve learned is that when you say we’re a social network in sports, it’s still rather difficult to get a new user engaged in a network where maybe they don’t know anyone.

In a sense, the newest site components are an answer to the familiar problem. Getting people to invest themselves in a social network where they might not have friends already on it is a constant question.

“That’s a challenge that any social network has,” Razzaghi noted, labeling it as a “chicken and the egg” situation. Yet by providing universally sought-after services, like score updates and video content, Fancred can circumvent at least one of the usual problems of social media sites.

And in testing the new aspects of its app, Fancred enlisted the help of numerous users. An extensive process, users would simply try out connectivity in a variety of ways (like opening their app on road trips). And though the company itself still has a relatively small team, its uniquely placed to rollout live video, given where much of Fancred’s personnel came from.

“A lot of my team is actually from an online video startup here in town, Brightcove,” Razzaghi explained. “So I mean I started in Boston at Brightcove, my co-founder was at Brightcove, two of our engineers are from there. And we spent close to a decade, building, designing and selling online video technology. So getting into the live video piece of it is actually sort of nostalgic to some extent.”

As for the third component of Fancred’s eventual growth? That would be commerce. And while nothing in the latest announcements addresses that side of the site specifically, keep an eye out in the not too distant future.

“The third pillar that I think is going to be really interesting for the future is commerce. I think a media company is actually going to get really deep into commerce side of things,” Razzaghi said. “Obviously we don’t have anything specially for commerce in this release, but that’s something that we’ll be adding soon.”

Image via Fancred