Evan L. Frederick

From Yellow to Blue Exploring Lance Armstrong’s Image Repair Strategies Across Traditional and Social Media

This research explored how Lance Armstrong utilized image repair strategies during 2012 and early 2013. This time frame represented a turbulent period in his career, as he faced a doping investigation by the U.S. government and later admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during a nationally televised interview with Oprah Winfrey. Armstrong’s 859 tweets during this time period and his comments during the Oprah Winfrey interview were collected and subjected to a thematic analysis using Benoit’s image repair typology. Results indicated that via Twitter, Armstrong used attacking the accuser, bolstering, and stonewalling strategies but during the interview demonstrated contrition by employing mortification, shifting blame, simple denial, provocation, and victimization along with two newly identified strategies: conforming and retrospective regret. The results suggest that athletes who display multifaceted image repair strategies can embolden identification and attachment with followers and introduce competing media narratives surrounding their identity. However, these strategies may backfire when divergent messages are delivered in different media forums. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

Choosing Between the One-Way or Two-Way Street An Exploration of Relationship Promotion by Professional Athletes on Twitter

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships promoted by professional athletes on Twitter utilizing the theoretical framework of parasocial interaction (PSI). Specifically, this study was a content analysis that examined professional athlete tweets in order to determine whether they predominately promoted social or parasocial relationships. The study also explored with whom athletes were engaging in social interaction as well as the topic of each tweet. The data revealed that professional athletes promoted both parasocial and social relationships equally. When they chose to be social, athletes were communicating with lay people and other professional and college athletes. Most athlete tweets were either general statements or insights into their personal lives. The implications of these and other findings will be discussed further.

Kissing in the Carnage: An Examination of Framing on Twitter During the Vancouver Riots

This study examines the frames found on Twitter during the Vancouver riots on June 15, 2011. A textual analysis was employed, and resulted in the identification of 5 frames: fandom, riot propagation, global perspectives, shame on Vancouver, and real fans vs. idiots. The identification of these frames illustrated Twitters role as a source of news and information, and also an outlet for shaping public opinion and cultural perception. Twitter provided the opportunity to counter public perceptions of Canadian hockey fans and the rioters through displays of dissociation, embarrassment, remorse, and comparisons to substantial global events of political unrest.

A Shift in Set Examining the Presence of Agenda Setting on Twitter During the 2012 London Olympics

The purpose of this study was to determine whether agenda setting was present on Twitter during the 2012 London Olympics. In order to analyze the presence of agenda setting, tweets from the @London2012 account and tweets containing #London2012 were analyzed. The @London2012 account served as the news outlet, while tweets containing #London2012 served as the unit of analysis to determine whether agenda setting was present. A content analysis of these tweets revealed significant differences between the two groups in terms of tweet focus, sports mentioned, and countries mentioned, suggesting no agenda setting presence on Twitter. Additionally, the primary affiliation of individuals utilizing #London2012 was laypeople, which aligned with previous Twitter-specific research. The implications of these and other findings will be discussed further.

Prayers, punishment, and perception: an analysis of the response to the Tony Stewart – Kevin Ward Jr. incident on Facebook

Abstract The purpose of this study was to analyse the response to Tony Stewart’s first public statement following the Kevin Ward Jr. incident and determine how individuals were discussing the incident on Facebook utilizing the theoretical lens of framing. A total of 14,888 comments from 4594 users were analysed with the qualitative software Leximancer. Two frames emerged from the data analysis including judgement and knowledge. Within those frames were five themes including fault, accident, conviction, racing knowledge and evidence. These themes were bi-directional in nature, which allowed users to place blame, question other users’ knowledge, analyse the nature of the incident itself, express support or disdain and call for further examination of the incident. This study’s findings highlight how Facebook can be utilized as a platform for individuals to create an organic framework and attribute their own meaning to a controversial incident.

Echo or organic: framing the 2014 Sochi Games

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to perform a comparative analysis of how traditional media and social media framed the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Design/methodology/approach The researchers examined newspaper articles pertaining to the Sochi Olympics and Tweets containing #SochiProblems to determine if differences or overlap existed in terms of themes and frames. A thematic analysis was conducted with the qualitative software Leximancer. Findings An analysis of 2,856 newspaper articles and 497,743 Tweets revealed three frames across the two media platforms including: the setting, the politics, and the games. There was both a divergence and convergence of content. While there was an echo chamber in terms of discussions regarding political controversies, organic content related to conditions and accommodations existed primarily on Twitter. Originality/value This study sought to investigate whether organic content on Twitter could withstand the transference of sentiments that emerge in traditional media. This study adds to the current body of the literature by examining whether there is a convergence or divergence of content across media platforms pertaining to an international sporting event.

Determining the Effects of Sport Commentary on Viewer Perceptions, Attitudes, Beliefs, and Enjoyment through Violence Justification

Three commentary conditions were created in order to determine how perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and enjoyment were affected by varying levels of violence justification. Specifically, this study employed a between subjects quasi-experimental design. Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) testing found support for commentarys ability to alter viewer perceptions through violence justification. The neutral condition was found to have the highest mean value for perceptions of aggression and hostility. Conclusions regarding those findings will be discussed further.

Blurred lines: an examination of high school football recruits' self-presentation on Twitter.

The purpose of this study was to explore self-presentation among highly ranked high school football recruits on Twitter. The top 10 athletes in the ESPN 300 were selected for analysis. Specifically, an inductive thematic analysis of the athletes’ tweets was conducted using grounded theory and constant-comparative methodology. Tweets were analyzed from the beginning of the football season through national signing day on February 5. Five self-presentation categories emerged from the data analysis including the personalist, interactivist, promotionalist, culturalist, and vocationalist. Overall, the high school athletes in this study were more likely to use Twitter to engage in backstage (i.e., candid) self-presentation than front-stage (i.e., calculated) self-presentation. While these athletes did use front-stage self-presentation, the performances were characterized by a highly personalized approach to communicating. The candid nature of these athletes’ use of Twitter suggests that proactive education of ho...

Agenda-setting and La Copa Mundial: marketing through agenda-setting on soccer blogs during the 2010 World Cup.

Media coverage for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa included US-based sports television network ESPN. Along with its television coverage, ESPN’s website featured two blogs, specifically dedicated to the coverage of the 2010 World Cup. However, ESPN was not the only online outlet covering the event. Therefore, using agenda-setting theory, this study attempted to determine if the nature of World Cup coverage differed significantly between

When Athlete Activism Clashes With Group Values: Social Identity Threat Management via Social Media

On November 30, 2014, five African American St. Louis Rams players locked hands and displayed a “hands-up” gesture during player introductions in response to racial tensions in Ferguson, Missouri, emanating from the Michael Brown case. This act generated significant media attention and prompted discussions via Facebook and Twitter. Two notable venues on social media for these conversations were the “Boycott the St. Louis Rams” Facebook page and the Twitter hashtag #BoycottRams. A thematic analysis of 1,019 user-generated Facebook comments and 452 tweets was conducted through the lens of social identity threat management. Six primary themes emerged: (a) renouncing fandom, (b) punishment commentary, (c) racial commentary, (d) general criticism, (e) attacking other group members, and (f) presenting the “facts” of the case. The results suggest that social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter serve as forums where group members discuss and debate challenges to group values and promote action steps that can mitigate social identity threats. This form of protest holds implications for minority athletes’ activism efforts and sport organization administrators.