Galen Clavio

Dimensions of Social Media Utilization Among College Sport Fans

As social media provide athletic departments and their constituents with an additional point of engagement with their fans, it is important to understand the social media audience. However, despite the growth of social media use among collegiate athletic departments, coaches, and teams, relatively little is known about the individuals who are utilizing various social media forums. This study was the first to attempt to understand why college sport fans engage in sport-focused social media use, with a theoretical grounding in uses and gratifications. Utilizing a survey of student fans from a large Division 1 institution, the results suggest that there is a relatively low level of social media participation among college sport fans in relation to official Twitter and Facebook feeds of the team, and a surprising prevalence of traditional media usage for informational purposes. Factor analysis reveals dimensions of gratification for social media use include content creation as an identifiable factor. These and other findings are discussed.

Homophobic and Sexist yet Uncontested: Examining Football Fan Postings on Internet Message Boards

Although a homophobic and sexist archetype of heterosexual masculinity has been thought to permeate competitive teamsport, matters have been rapidly changing. This is evident in research on openly gay athletes, attitudes among heterosexual athletes, and recent studies on decreasing homophobia among sport media content. In this research, however, we examine how some men still adhere to a homophobic and sexist masculine deposition when discussing sport on the Internet. A textual analysis was used to analyze hegemonic masculinity from a popular American football message board. Although posts related to hegemonic masculinity did not permeate the data, we found that this traditional form of masculinity was upheld through misogyny, homophobia, and the objectification of women. Thus, whereas mainstream sport media is increasingly policed for homophobia and sexism, this research shows that the anonymity of the Internet permits hegemonic masculinity to flourish in specific locations, without contestation.

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.

A Comparison of Online Media and Traditional Newspaper Coverage of the Men's and Women's U.S. Open Tennis Tournaments

The purpose of this study was to determine any significant differences in how reporters for newspapers and online sites framed mens and womens tennis. Articles on the 2007 U.S. Open in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, and online sites produced by ESPN, Fox Sports, and Sports Illustrated were examined. Results showed newspapers were more likely to minimize the athleticism of female athletes, thus strengthening hegemonic masculinity more than the newer medium of online journalism, which produced mixed results.

Set the agenda like Beckham: a professional sports league’s use of YouTube to disseminate messages to its users

The popularity of the video aggregation website YouTube has led some sporting organisations to establish a presence on the site. These can come in the form of channels, web pages that host all of a user’s video clips. Other YouTube users can subscribe to these channels, meaning a channel’s updates appear on a user’s YouTube home page. Among the entities utilising this inexpensive way of disseminating video messages is 16-year-old professional soccer league Major League Soccer (MLS). Researchers examined whether a sport organisation (i.e., MLS) can use such a website to practice agenda-setting through the posting of certain kinds of videos. Results showed that agenda-setting is being accomplished on a small scale, but can potentially be accomplished on a larger scale by using YouTube as if it were a traditional mass medium.

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

Agenda-setting in minor league hockey: a strategic justification and practical guide

Maintaining a favourable image is important at all levels of sport, but it is especially key at the minor league level where budgets and resources are often limited. The symbiotic relationship between sport and the media provides a unique opportunity for minor league franchises to play an active role in influencing public perception through agenda-setting. Minor league franchises must be particularly strategic in the manner in which they interact with the media and with members of their respective communities. This study examined media coverage, demographics and fan perception relative to the franchises role within the community, team performance and support for the team. A strategic justification and practical guide was provided for minor league hockey teams to use as a guide in agenda-building and in interactions with the media.

Content analysis of sport ticket sales job announcements

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the current state of job announcements relating to sport ticket sales and service positions in the USA.Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis methodology was utilized to examine 733 sport sales job announcements from two subscription‐based sport job websites posted over a six month time period.Findings – Sport sales jobs were geographically clustered with over half of the positions within only eight states, led by California (12.7 percent), New York (9.3 percent), Texas (7.2 percent), and Florida (7.2 percent). The majority of organizations posting jobs were specific teams or integrated sport/entertainment companies owning specific teams (76 percent), followed by media firms (11 percent), outsourced sales firms (6 percent), and sporting goods companies (6 percent). Of the 12 major job types, inside sales positions were the most common (32.3 percent) followed by sponsorship sales (13 percent) and media advertising (12 percent). Logistic regression r...