Any sports fan will tell you the greatest social network is not one that's limited to 140 characters; rather it's inside a stadium with 25,000 comrades only interested in following the action playing out in front of them. Play Up - Where Sports Gets Social is built on that very premise: That sporting events are better when they’re shared.

Not unlike the chat rooms of yore, PlayUp connects iPhone users in public or private "rooms" based on likeminded interests; that is, whatever game is on. After signing in -- either through an existing Facebook account or the creation of a unique profile -- users are presented with a simple, albeit haphazardly organized list of live matches. All minutiae of sports are represented in PlayUp, but you won't find a single stat to accompany the running score updates. PlayUp assumes you're following the game elsewhere.

What the app does supply is an unfiltered forum for sports fans around the world to connect through cheering (or cursing) their favorite team. The only problem is that most of the time we couldn’t find anyone to chat with. Even during marquee matches, there were barely enough people in the rooms to stir up debate -- and most of the time, we were talking to ourselves. Perhaps that’s why PlayUp encourages users to invite their friends through Facebook, but it's not yielding quite enough overall activity to benefit the wider community.

The bottom line. PlayUp offers a place where sports fans can share every point and penalty -- if you can find someone to talk to.