This document discusses how social media has impacted sports. It begins by introducing how social media allows fans to follow teams constantly and interact directly with them. Several studies are then summarized that examine how social media has expanded sports audiences internationally and among different demographics. Studies analyzed the motivations and behaviors of fans from the U.S. and China who follow sports via social media. Other research looked at women as sports analysts and how social media enhances fan connections. The document concludes by proposing experiments to further study age and gender differences in social media use for sports engagement.

1. Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA ROLE IN SPORTS
How Social Media Plays a Role in Sports
Brad Byers
Youngstown State University

2. SOCIAL MEDIA ROLE IN SPORTS 2
How Social Media Plays a Role in Sports
Introduction
In today’s world when it comes to sports, especially in this country, sports go a lot further
than just simply sitting down and watching the game. We no longer live in a world where you
are just drawn to a specific team or organization just because you go watch them play.
Nowadays, teams and their brands are everywhere. It’s not just on the radio and television
anymore, it is everywhere. When you log onto your social media site, you can follow your team
and what they are doing, where they are going and enjoy up the second news about them. Not
only can you get team information at the snap of a finger, now teams and organizations are using
social media as a means to reach out to fans and become a lot more interactive with them. In
turn, this is allowing fans to be closer to the teams and sports in which they love. Sports teams
and organizations are now using social media to offer fans different promotions and offers to
draw more people to the events and build a bigger fan base and gain a lot more support by
allowing fans to view teams in a way that they never have before.
The aim of this study is to discover the ways that social media has had such a large role
in the world of sports. This paper will explain the different ways sports has been affected by
social media by discussing how social media, technology, and sports have been fused together to
give fans an inside look like they have never seen before in the past. It will talk about the
changing demographics such women in sports, the international fan base, and how social media
affects people that move around the country but still maintain an allegiance to a team and a
brand. Finally, it will discuss enhancing and increasing fan connection by means of Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and blogging, etc.

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Changing Demographics and Audiences
As the global economy broadens and expands, so do the interests of professional sport
leagues. Professional sports teams and organizations want to move into new markets in other
countries, such as China. China is one of the fastest growing and largest markets in the world. It
is also an untapped fan base when it comes to American sports. Kaplan and Langdon (2012)
conducted a survey to explore national differences in fandom and to identify fan motives and
their feelings on the expansion to new markets. The method that was used was an online survey
through social media. There were 519 participants. 48.2% of the fans were from China and
51.8% was from the United States. From the 250 Chinese participants, 59.6% were males and
39.6% were females and .2% did not specify gender. Two Chinese university student research
assistants recruited the Chinese sample and each participant was paid 2 American dollars to
complete the survey. Out of the 269 American participants, 44.6% were males and 55.4% were
females. The sample was recruited via an email invitation sent out to an entire campus of a small
liberal arts college in New England and the social network of the author. It was an online version
of the survey that was optional to all students. Most completed it using the social media form of
the survey. There were significant differences between Chinese and American Fans. Chinese
fans followed were more likely to follow a sport because of an individual athlete. An American
fan was more likely to follow the sport because of a specific team. The forms that were used in
the survey were television, Internet, social media, and video games. A yes/no question asked the
participant if they were a fan of professional sports in general and whether they followed
individuals or teams. It was then followed by questions asking which sports team they followed
and the media in which they used to follow the team or individual. The motivations assessed in
this survey were affiliation, aesthetics, economics (betting), entertainment, escape, family, self-

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esteem, and stimulation. The results were that significantly more American participants followed
professional sports than Chinese participants. Significantly more Americans followed
professional sports in person and via social media such as Facebook and Twitter, radio and
television. There were no major proportions of American and Chinese participants who followed
professional sports via video games. Significantly more Chinese (42.4%) than Americans (10%)
followed professional sports because of a particular professional athlete. More Americans
followed US sports via social media, radio, and TV. More Chinese followed via the Internet and
social media. The study was done to better understand fandom so that effective marketing
strategies could be developed for US professional sports expanding into China. More than half of
the Chinese sample showed that they were fans of professional sports and a fan of American
professional sports. The most popular for Chinese was basketball, tennis, and NASCAR. Results
also showed that the Chinese followed US professional sports via social media more than
American participants. Chadwick (2008), Rowe and Gilmour (2010) and O’Connors (2005)
stated that the vast majority of Chinese fans of professional American sports that used social
media noted national differences in media consumption. An analysis of the World Rally
Championship in Europe illustrated the strategy of promoting fan growth through video games,
internet (social media) and television. In a world that is connected by social media, it is
important for marketers to use many channels as possible to reach the consumer.
Greer and Jones (2012) looked at if what media executives say about audiences not
accepting women as sports analysts and that women should stick to only commentating on other
women’s sports is true. In the study, tests were done to see if male sports journalists are more
credible than females. It also covered feminine sports, regardless of gender such as volleyball
and compared it with American football. There were 181 participants that were randomly

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assigned to watch four 30-second sports analysis clips that came from an online questionnaire via
Facebook. The types of sport and analyst gender were the independent variables. Out of the 181
participants, 60 viewed the male football analyst, 44 viewed the female analyst. 39 viewed the
male volleyball analyst and 38 viewed the female volleyball analyst. The results were that the
likability of the analyst ranged by the type of sport. However, it was said that the female
broadcaster/analysts has significantly broken out of her role as just a “female sports
commentator” to a credible, widely opinionated journalist and analyst.
Social Media, Technology in sports
The days in which you just listen to sporting events on the radio and just television are
long gone. Today, we have large phones, tablets, laptops that not only show us the games that are
on but they give us an inside look at much more than the game itself. The development of social
media sites and their use in sports gives us an astounding look at exactly how many people give
their input during an event. An example would be an event that involves almost the entire planet,
The Olympics. Funnell (2012) points out that during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, there
were fewer than million twitter users. Smith (2013) says that at this point, there are over 500
million twitter accounts and more than 200 million are still “active” accounts. Wiltshire (2012)
said the opening ceremony of the London Olympics of 2012 had over 966 million tweets, which
is more mentions on twitter in a single day than the Beijing Olympics had overall.
Pronschinske, Groza, and Walker (2012) conducted an econometric model that is a
statistical model that was developed to test the impact of attributes on the number of Facebook
“fans” from a sample of 114 professional sports teams. Every team in from the four major
American sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) was used in this study. Each team website
and Facebook page was coded for the presence of an official Facebook page. In order to make

6. SOCIAL MEDIA ROLE IN SPORTS 6
sure the official Facebook page was used, coders clicked on alternate websites until they reached
the teams official Facebook page. Out of the 114 teams, only 8 of them did not have an official
team Facebook page. The study made it possible to code each team’s Facebook page according
to four primary attributes. They used a 22-item codebook to review relevant trade publications
and how organizations used the Internet and social media as marketing tools towards their fans.
Basically, the study was done to determine how often fans of teams visit their page. It was based
on a team’s winning percentage, how successful they were, post-season play, and overall how
popular the team was. The results indicated that if an organization had a Facebook icon located
on their team’s website that enabled the user to be directed straight to the team created page on
Facebook. Also, teams that advertised their Facebook or Twitter pages during in game activities
was an effective way to display that there are official team pages formed and that the team would
like to engage directly with their fans. It also showed that engagement strategies prompting fans
to enter into a two-way dialogue are a means to attract and maintain users to the team’s
Facebook page. Fans enjoy using message boards and the wall to communicate directly with
each other. Pronschinske, Groza, and Walker (2012) used the findings to go along with the social
identity theory that suggests people are attracted to and identify more with successful
organizations. If fans become dissatisfied with the team, they may stop visiting the team page. It
suggests that just creating a Facebook page is not enough to fully realize relationship-marketing
benefits. Instead, organizations should have a social media plan to create new audiences but also
to develop better relationships with their current audience. As Facebook continues to grow and
change, other aspects of the pages may change the fans attraction to the team. Future social
networking sites could use a case study that shows successes and failures of social networking
sites to strengthen theory in this area.

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Sanderson (2010) did a case study using former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s blog
because he directly engages fans and reporters. The author’s research question was: How does
social support manifest in blog readers’ responses to Curt Schilling? An analysis was done on
1,337 blog posts that appeared on 38pitches.com. The samples were taken from two entries that
Curt Schilling posted on his blog in response to two events that made national news headlines.
One of which was the “Bloody Sock Incident” in which Schilling pitched in the 2004 ALCS on
an ankle that had experimental surgery done on it. This game caused the Boston Red Sox to rally
back from a 3-0 deficit in the series to begin a run that eventually won them a world
championship. Three years later, Orioles play-by-play commentator refuted the story and stated
that Orioles catcher Doug Mirabelli had told him that the “Bloody Sock Incident” was a publicity
stunt. Schilling eventually responded on his blog that he would personally pay anyone one
million dollars to prove that the sock was a fake. Another was one about a radio segment in
which Schilling went on a rant accusing Barry Bonds of not only taking steroids but cheating on
his wife and cheating on his taxes. The public and the media criticized him severely to the point
that his manager at the time, Terry Francona, had to advise his to retract his statements
immediately. Schilling then went on to make a blog post titled “Public Apology” in which he
expressed extreme regret and also claimed that he was not completely awake during the
interview. The first post about the sock incident collected a total of 710 postings over a period of
55 days, with 559 of them being made within the first 24 hours of the post being made. There
were 113 postings that came from people who posted more than once. The second post about
Barry Bonds totaled 627 postings over 44 days with 495 of them being made within the first 24
hours. Responses were heavily based in the US with some being based out of Australia. The
research was done to examine how social support functioned on the blog of a professional

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baseball player. Although the study was done on one professional athlete, it shows important
implications for professional athletes alike. Sanderson (2010) stated that as long as the athlete
does not overtly ask for support instead stating his opinions and airing his views, allowing blog
readers to generate their own support for him. Sanderson (2010) also says that professional
athletes can use blogs as strategic public relations tools. Athletes can bypass traditional reporting
and gain a sympathetic audience through social media instead. Although there are times when
criticizing a professional athlete is warranted, fans should think critically about whether support
for an athlete is appropriate.
Clavio and Frederick (2014) examined the motivation behind social sharing and using locational
social media for use and self-gratification. Two research questions that were hypothesized was
why college sports fans engage in social sharing of their sport related check-ins and purchases.
The second one was if there were incentives that would encourage college sports fans to engage
in more sharing of sport-related check-ins and purchases. The method used was an empirical
study between researchers and a sport communication and marketing company. Five out of 12
BCS level conferences took part in the study. These five schools agreed to put the link to the
study on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. The participants were asked to respond to
multiple statements about social sharing of sport-related activities on a 5 point Likert-type scale.
It was also asked a separate 12 question questionnaire came with the topic of if any incentives
existed that would increase the likelihood of college sports fans sharing their related purchases
and reviews on social media sites. The study revealed that the social sharing of information and
the motivation behind the sharing. The first finding had to do with the likelihood of college
sports fans posting different types of information and entertainment using social sharing on
various social media sites. The most popular thing was taking “selfies” at games or after the

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game with news relating to the game. People enjoyed making it known that they were actually at
the game. Fans seemed more interested in creating their own content. Clavio and Walsh (2013)
noticed that general social media usage among college sports fans expressed a desire to create
and submit a variety of user-generated content. Fans discussed event promotion, friend
involvement and satisfying personal aims of fanhood as the most popular reason.
Looking back at all the results found in these studies, there are several main points that
can be drawn from this: 1) There are plenty of untapped markets that need be looked at more
closely. One study briefly went over the Chinese market. There are plenty of other markets that
can be opened up and studied. Social media has become a widespread tool throughout the world
and social media is only going to evolve further into the world of sports. 2) Fans of sports want
to be heard. Social media sites like blogs and Facebook and Twitter are allowing sports teams
and organizations to reach out to their fans more easily. 3) Different audiences and genders are
being affected by social media, both positively and negatively.
Most of the research done was online experiments, surveys, analysis and interviews. The
methods that are used are the most effective when looking at how people view social media and
how they interpret it and use it for sports. However, most of the studies done were very open
ended. There was also a lot of convenience sampling, easy access to these surveys. With that
being said, since the majority of these surveys were open ended, there was not a lot of focus on
certain demographics. This can bring attention to some unanswered questions. 1) Does a certain
age/gender group use social media to view and interact with sports more than the other? 2) What
means of technology do they use when interacting via social media and why?
Experiment Method
The different demographics that will be asked to participate will be junior high, high

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school, and college students both male and female separately. They will pick their preferred
social media site to view and interact with the team or organization of their choosing. They will
then be compared to an older demographic ranging from 40-50 years of age. They will be
observed by noting what social media site was used, what they did on the site such as responding
to posts by the team and responding to blogs or message boards from other fans. They will then
be asked how social media has increased their exposure to the said preferred team, player, or
league. The information will then be collected and compared first by age and then gender.
Random Questionnaire
The same demographics used in the first method will be used in this sample. The study
will be in the computer lab in Maag. A survey will provided via Facebook or Twitter in an online
questionnaire with numerous questions about their sports preference, favorite team, athlete or
sport, what they use to watch sports or read about their favorite sports or sports teams. Finally,
what means of technology they use to watch or interact with sports such as laptops, tablets,
television, cell phones, etc. Responses from men, women, and separate age demographics will
be structured and compared.
These methods used would be effective in being able to fully comprehend the patterns
and ways that people use social media with sports. It will show the different demographics based
on age and gender. It will also show what technology is most frequently used and how many
people depend on it for watching and interacting with sports. With the use of social media in
sports, it not only benefits the fan but it also benefits the sport and teams itself. This type of
study will show that social media has a large impact in both the interest of the fan and the sport
and it will only continue to get more interactive and user friendly as time goes on.
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