Download Sport through Web 2.0. A ´´ Virtual Bridge´´ between Professional

Sport through Web 2.0. A ´´ Virtual Bridge´´ between Professional Athletes and Fans
Thesis
by
Dominika Šindlerová
Submitted in Partial fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Arts
In
Communication and Mass Media
State University of New York
Empire State College
2016
Reader: Ph.D., PhDr., M.A. Todd Nesbitt
Acknowledgment
First of all, I would like to express my immense gratitude and respect to my advisor and
mentor, Ph.D., PhDr., M.A. Todd Nesbitt, for his time and advice that was guiding me
during my Senior Thesis Project.
Furthermore, my immense gratitude belongs to my family who gave me an opportunity
to study and also to the support and patience they had during all those years. To my
dearest friends without whose support I would not be who I am and especially to one of
my greatest supporters Alena Davydova for her willingness to help anytime I needed.
I also want to express my thanks to Adam and Andreas Žampa, and Štefan Svitko, who
were willing to help me and cooperate on my research.
I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................6
II. History of Sports.........................................................................................................9
II.I. Ancient Greece ...............................................................................................9
II. II. Physical Education in Sparta and Ancient Athens .....................................11
II. III. Nativity of Olympic Games ......................................................................13
II. IV. The Modern Olympics ..............................................................................14
II. V. The Winter Olympic Games……………………………………………..15
III. Approaches to Sports Mediation ...........................................................................17
III.I. Sports through Traditional Media ...............................................................18
III. II. Sports as Entertainment in the Age of Modern Technologies ..................21
III. III. Sports through Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 .....................................................24
III. IV. The Consumption of Sport through New Media……………………….26
IV. Social Media and Sports .........................................................................................27
IV.I. The Power of Social Media ........................................................................30
IV. II. A Communication Strategies ....................................................................31
IV. III. Advantages of Marketing Strategies in Sports.
Branding and Sponsorship..................................................................................33
V. The Virtual Identity of Athletes ..............................................................................36
V.I. Identity Construction and Representation of Athletes by Social Media…..39
V. I. I. The Shaping of Relationships between Fans and Athletes through
Social Media …………………………………………………………...42
V. II. Identity Construction of Sport Figures and Fans in Slovakia:
A Case Study…………………………………………………..............44
V. II. I. Survey………………………………...………………………..45
V. II. II. Interviews…………………….............…………………….....50
V. III. Conclusion………………………………………………………………55
VI. Conclusion ...............................................................................................................56
Appendix………………………………………………………………………………58
Works Cited ...................................................................................................................62
Bibliography...................................................................................................................70
Abstract
This paper focuses on the identity construction of the athlete through social media platforms and their relationship with fans. At the beginning of this paper there is a brief explanation of the origins of sports and sports events and what the primary purpose of
physical education was in the ancient times, to give developmental illustration to the
thesis. In the following section, techniques related to mediation of sports that interconnects with its consumption through various media channels are analyzed. Furthermore,
new media channels increasing sports consumption and also provided new opportunities
in various spheres of marketing are documented.
Athletes and public figures have become attractive for brands and organizations, whose
cooperation is beneficial for both parties. Furthermore, identity construction of athletes,
and how they use social media platforms to establish a relationship with their followers
is analyzed. An empirical component follows using Qualitative and Quantitative research methods to test the hypothesis.
I. Introduction
Several centuries ago, mans only relationship connected to physical activity was the aim
to survive. The appearance of sport as we know it today was took its form with the
gradual evolution of human beings. In the times of Ancient Greece, sport was considered to be one of the activities that could be done only by chosen individuals who used
sport as a type of entertainment and space, where they were fighting for prestige, reputation, and more importantly, survival. Today, sport or any other types of physical activities, are often undertaken as a way to improve an individual´s lifestyle and the way
they feel.
Sports games have moved into schools via physical education curriculum, thanks to
which, the interest of children can be explored, and nurtured from an early age. In addition to this, international media sports events such as the Olympic Games, European
leagues, and other sports events also take place for adults, and for children to strive to
be a part of. Even though the image of the Olympics has changed since the epoch of
Ancient Greece, the main idea in which these competitions are a primary source of entertainment and the great opportunity for self-presentation and earning prestige has been
maintained.
When sports finally appeared on television, and via other traditional media channels, the
promoters took a chance and used “sports” with the purpose to establish the interest of
people and make them become active participants in such sporting events. TV channels
provided for their audience many opportunities to watch or hear the sports content that
fits their interests. Media coverage of sport brought many possibilities such as promotions and marketing strategies, which became part of the broadcasted content, allowing
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very precise marketing to target audiences. It was, and still is, a sophisticated way to
generate interest in a sport, and increase the overall interest in sports activities across
the world.
The consumption of sports through traditional media has started to decline with the
emergence of the era of ´´New media´´, which have changed how people follow sports,
or even other types of content. The Sport itself is still important, however now, mainly
athletes, have become crucial elements of social media marketing content. The more
famous athletes seem to be, the more attention people pay to the sports they do and to
their appearance. Communication platforms have become an essential part of sport's
sponsorship and a tool for dissemination of brand awareness (Santomier, 2008, p. 1).
Since new technology went through a huge evolution people had the chance to interact
with innovational technology such as; Web 1.0, through which people could absorb
sports information using computers and mainly, communicate by one-way communication. Web 2.0 brought the opportunity to strengthen interpersonal communication and
brought the opportunity of immediate interaction amongst people. It also gave the immense priviligeto get insight into the life of famous athletes, by creating a virtual bridge
between them and their fans (Frederick et al.,2012), which had resulted in the increase
of overall consumption of sport itself. Online Television, blogs, web pages or online
radio stations, provide a delight of the live broadcast for those, who are not able to see
and enjoy it during broadcast time. Blogs have become one of the most popular communication platforms, where fans can share and comment posts with other people
(Schulz & Sheffer, 2008).
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People tend to identify with their favorite athletes based on similar interests and therefore, the easiest way to find more information about their daily activities, their hobbies,
their weaknesses, strengths and preferences, is to become their follower. Followers are
people, who tend to look for information about particular athletes by using social communication platforms (Frederick et al.,2012).
To become a follower, individuals have to have an account on a social media platform,
where athletes are presenting themselves. Self-presentation has become an inevitable
part of communication on social networks, which creates valuable connections between
fans and athletes. This false connection not only serves as a motivator, but also gives a
feeling that fans have a particular “intimate” relationship withthe athletes (Frederick at
al.,2012).
This thesis examines how and why social media is used in identity construction and
maintenance, in the context of professional sports, with an emphasis on the Slovak environment. It aims to trace the transformation of sports communication and mediation
over time to identify how sports people and the public communicate in the digital age,
and the consequences of the nature of this type of evolving relationship.
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II. History of Sports
Sports have been an integral part of all civilizations for centuries. There is an immense
amount of historical evidence documenting physical activities, which goes back for an
extended period of time. A historical perspective shows us that, as we know sport today,
have a different form and mission than back then. For instance, in the medieval age,
sports were considered as a source of power, self-defense, and pointer of beliefs (Coakley& Pike, 2009). This chapter seeks to examine the origins of sports, in order to understand their function and importance in today’s society, and to what extent the selfpresentation of athletes was a part of identity construction in ancient times.
II.I Ancient Greece
The origins of sports connect with prehistoric hunting and activities, which were an essential part of the process of surviving. Later on, when people started to have more leisure time, sport became a form of entertainment. People began to use physical activity
as a tool for shaping their bodies. They called it physical education and it became a substantial part of the educational system in schools. The origins of sports as part of the educational system in Egypt date back to around 2000 B.C and later, it was gradually
adopted also in Ancient Greece around 8th to 6th century B.C., where it was believed
that this activity played a significant role in self-development of the mental and physical
side. People in ancient Greece were more focused on the physical world rather than on
sacred things like it was in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians were mostly focused on their
physical appearance, but from a different perspective. They were practicing yoga not to
look strong, but more beautiful. This particular fact connects to the self- presentation of
athletes within today’s modern era, where the individual image of the athletes is incredibly important. Even in the ancient times, the recognition of athletes played an immense
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role in the process of socialization. The athletes who were participating in the games
were known as local heroes during their lives and, ´´after their death, they were hindered with the cult and regarded as having magical powers´´ (Rubio-Hernandez,2011, p.
114). The process of self-image building of celebrity personas is based on their reputation and popularity, which today, athletes are reaching based on the media coverage. In
the medieval ages, athletes had to popularize themselves only by their attendance and
performance in the games, which, in all practicality, is similar to today’s selfpresentation, which is in many cases monitored by the athletes.
The overall purpose of the educational system in the ancient Greece was to bring up a
young generation of proper citizens and make them ready for the difficulties and pitfalls
of life. They believed that a proper human being should be in harmony with his spirit
and be the owner of a beautiful body. Their physical education consisted of competitive
games, which were led by a´paidotribes´, a person who taught physical education.
Those sporting exercises were taking place at ´Palaestra´, which was the building that
was also the part of the gymnasium during the Ancient times.
Physical beauty did not only stand for the overall appearance, but it also represented the
mental harmony, which was achieved by studying music and arts. The artistic performances were a vital part of every bigger ceremony. Ancient Greece was divided into
Athens and Sparta. Even though both of them were sharing almost the same values,
their educational system differed in many ways (Demirel et al., n.d.). Some were training their bodies in order to maintain the healthy spirit of the bodies, and others used these training methods to become warriors.
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II.II Physical Education in Sparta and Ancient Athens
The educational system in Sparta was very strict, and it was compulsory males. All boys
had to join training, which was led and controlled by appropriate supervisors, as soon as
they reached the age of seven years old. They had to go through strenuous physical
training until they were eighteen years old. The whole process, of self-improvement involved practices, which in today’s world, would be considered inhumane and extreme.
Children had to sleep on a solid surface, walk without shoes no matter the terrain and
furthermore, improve their physical ability in many sport’s disciplines. They were
trained to run, to swim, and to do long jumps. They also learned the techniques of discussing or javelin throwing, but the most important thing was to teach them to hunt. The
whole training process, which they had to undergo, was based on a stringent order and
physical sanctions. This helped to create out of them, strong, and lofty individuals, for
whom overcoming the pain and physical suffering was regarded as a symbol of pride
and manhood. When they reached the age of eighteen years, boys had to join the
´´cadets´´ military group where they met with the baits of war. They acquired the
knowledge how to become a warrior. After two years in this preparatory group, they
moved to state militia where they had to stay four more years. It meant that they had to
be always prepared to serve on behalf of Sparta anytime it was necessary.
Most of the soldiers did not have an intellectual background in sectors such as literature,
writing, or reading. They practiced physical education, which also included dance performance and music, which was a part of after-war ceremonies. The Spartan’s girls had
to undergo a similar training process, except not having to leave their home. Their training was the same as that of the boys. After this period of self-training, they had to stay
with their mothers at their households.
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The ideology of the educational system in Ancient Athens was slightly different than in
Sparta. Athens was more focused on the education of art, its uses in the war, and also in
peaceful environments. After they had reached eighteen they could decide whether to
join a military group or not. The fathers provided physical training to their sons to keep
them in good physical condition. Elementary schools for boys started at the age of six to
seven and finished around the age of fourteen. They were trained to do gymnastics and
how to control their movement to make them look lofty. Another part of their educational program consisted of easy exercises that shaped their bodies, which were called
calisthenics, and also playing collective games. Even though the older boys were trained
in the same disciplines as they were in Sparta, the main objective of education was literature and art. For the people living in Athens, the cultural heritage of Greece such as the
Homer’s poems belonged among the most important elements of everyone’s educational background. The main purpose of the education of art was to teach a young man to
become an educated and steady individual, with harmony in his soul and mind. They
believed that a respectable member of the society should be both, educated and physically prepared to serve on behalf of the country.
Based on the fact that physical education in Sparta was paid, some of the families could
not afford to pay the tuition and therefore, the education of their sons ended at the age
of fourteen (Guisepi, n.d.). People in Ancient times were not only led to education but
also to a healthy lifestyle, which was supported by physical education. People perceived
Athletes as role models whose self-presentation influenced younger generations.
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II.III Nativity of Olympic Games
The mega event, Olympic Games as we know them today, have their origins in Ancient
Greece. The citizens of Greece organized these athletic events, where the chosen athletes competed in various sports disciplines against each other. Based on the archeological findings, the first Olympics were established around 776 B.C. The games lasted
five days and were organized every four years for around a thousand years. Therefore,
people in Ancient Greece counted the time on the ´Olympiads´ rather than on the years.
These Games were established with the main purpose, to venerate the gods such as;
Apollo, Poseidon, and God of Gods Zeus (´´Olympic Games and Cultural Policy´´,2013), as it was said by Rubio-Hernandez (2011),“The first Olympic Games were
supposed to be a reproduction of primordial fights between gods and heroes” (p. 109).
Everyone, who wanted to participate in the Games had to be a citizen of Greece without
a criminal past. Women who were married or were involved in illegal activities were
banned from taking part at the Olympics, even as a spectator. The whole Games required precise physical and mental preparation; therefore, around half a year before the
Games were to take place, each separate state of Greece had to proclaim the war truce.
This resolution provided a safe environment, while the athletes were traveling to Olympia, where the Olympics were organized. The information about the priorOlympic
Games was collected from historical discoveries such as sculptures, written poetry,
paintings and written documents, which clarified the evolution of the epoch of the Ancient Games. After a thousand years of traded traditions, the Olympic Games were
banned in 390 C.E by Theodius I. He enforced the idea that the Olympic Games, were
violating the Christian religion and that they had to be banned. The Olympics were
therefore banned and mostly forgotten about, until the 19th century. This era is also
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known as an epoch of rebirth of the Olympic Games, (´´Olympic Games and Cultural
Policy´´, 2013) where people started to recognize athletes and follow their performances.
II.IV. Modern Olympics
The Modern Olympic Games differ from Ancient Olympics in many spheres. One of
the considerable aspects is the fact that the Modern Olympics are divided into the summer and winter Olympic. While the historically first Olympics consisted of few summer
disciplines, the current Games include a variety of different sports disciplines and are
hosting thousands of athletes from hundreds of different countries around the world. To
become a host country where the Olympics are taking place is an honor for the particular country. In comparison with the Ancient Olympics, where the Games were taking
place all the time at the same location in Olympia, the Modern Games are organized
every four years in a different country, which fulfills expected requirements to host
them (´´Olympic Games and Cultural Policy´´, 2013). It can be understood similarly as
identity construction of the athletes. A hosting countryis also trying to build a reputation through which it would popularize itself.
The New, or as they are called, Modern Olympics were reborn in 1894 with the establishment of the International Olympic Committee and in 1896, they were organized for
the first time, by Pierre de Coubertin who is also consider as the father of New Olympic
Games or the Olympic Movement. In comparison with the number of contending sports
disciplines at the Olympic Games in 2012, the first Modern Olympics were hosting only
nine disciplines. Coubertin tried to keep the idea of the Ancient Olympic Games, therefore, while he was renewing the spirit of Olympics, he maintained as much from the
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primer Olympics as was possible. The public could see many similarities, which were
used, as a bridge between the old and new perception of the Olympic Games. As it was
part of the preparation during the Ancient times, the physical and mental health, obedience of the rules by every participant, standards and requirements and most importantly,
the spread of the peace across the world, ´Olympian war truce´, was also part of the new
idea of Olympic Games. The performances of art, music and in poetry could also not be
missed.
In comparison with Ancient Greece, where the Olympics were taking place only in
Olympia, the first Modern Games were located in the Athens. The location was chosen
based on the political influence and also based on the fact that at that time, the Athens
were the capital of the Greece (´´Olympic Sports list´´, n.d.).
II.V. The Winter Olympic Games
Even before the Winter Olympic Games became an independent mega event, the precursors of the winter games were the Nordic Games in 1901. They were organized in
Scandinavia, specifically in Rene Olympia, where there were excellent conditions for
winter sports. Critical roles in the development of the idea of the Winter Olympics,
played a sporting week called ´Winter sports week´ organized in Kristiania, today´s Oslo. The primary purpose of this event was to represent the Scandinavian continent and
appeal for widespread tourisms. They wanted to present Scandinavia across the world.
Even though the primary organizers did not want to connect with the idea of the Winter
Olympic Games, the Nordic Games are considered as their predecessor. The Nordic
Games were organized to promote Sweden as the country of tourism and the Swedish
population as the lovers of winter sports. The variation of the sports disciplines such as
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downhill, ice skating, ice hockey, cross-country skiing and many others, presented great
attractions for the people of other countries.
The Nordic Games became very popular among foreign countries, but they did not want
to make a connection with the Olympic Games. The ICO ´stole´ the idea of winter week
and applied it into the regularly first Winter Olympic Games. France in ChamonixMont-Blanc in the Haut al Savoie hosted them in 1924. More than 258 athletes from 16
countries were competing in 5 sports disciplines. Thus, as the idea of the Winter Olympics appeared as successful, the political problems and diplomacy of the particular
countries made the whole situation about their establishment more difficult(Edgeworth,2015). Although the mediation and promotion of the individual states
was much more difficult than it is today, their organized events served as a type of
propaganda for hosting countries and participating athletes. Both of them were trying to
reach a particular image.
When the Coubertin came with the idea to reinstate the Olympic Games in 1894 afew
years later in 1899, the Czech Olympic Committee, which was established and headed
by Josef Rossler-Orovsky and Jiri Guth, came up with the proposal to insert a winter
sport into the official program of the Olympic Games. Based on Orovsky´s pressure, the
Czechs put together several Olympic teams even before the establishment of Czechoslovak Republic in 1819. In 1903, Orovsky created the first official Czech ski association, (´´Svaz lyžařú Království Českého´´). The reason, why this particular information
is important in this paper is that it was the first official ski association in the world (The
Beginnings of skiing in the Czech Kingdom,2011).The Coubertine´s Olympic movement is recognized as the most significant movement in human society. They created
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the connection amongst the sports association and media gave the Olympics the current
paradigm and opportunity for further development, (Rosandich,2011) which helped the
Winter Olympics to reach the importance it has today and its place within the Olympic
Games.
The Coubertine´s Olympic movement is recognized as the most significant movement
in human society. The created connections among sports associations and media gave
the Olympics the current paradigm and opportunity for further development(Rosandich,2011).The evolution of the sports communities had been evolving,
since the eighth century B.C., when sports activities were connected with the process of
surviving, gaining respect, and later prestige. As time went continued, the attendance on
the primer Olympics ensured the mentioned prestige of the athletes and made them
´´immortal´´ in the fables, which were passed down for centuries. Athletes moved from
the position of ancient heroes to that of role models, whose personas started to be followed by many people around the world.
III. Approaches to Sport Mediation
This chapter will provide an introduction into the world of modern technologies and
communication devices that have changed the sports mediation process and its overall
consumption. The innovation of this modern age also provides opportunities for presentations of celebrity personas. Today´s media world provides a plethora of options to
combine several sources of which people can create their opinion and construct their
own image of a presented topic (Colapinto & Benecchi, 2014, p. 224).
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The self-presentation and identity construction closely connects with sports mediation,
which is also a fascinating tool for brands and companies. There are several reasons
why athletes are so interesting for the well-known brands, but the main reason why
brands want to sponsor athletes is the fact, that ´´sports [are] a traditional, lucrative and
universal form of popular culture”(Andrews&Jaskson,2001; Colapinto&Benecchi,2014,
p. 221) and therefore, it became a requirement to engage sports into advertising campaigns, which are also connected with media consumption.
III.I. Sport through Traditional Media
Sports were considered a source of entertainment for hundreds of years. Before the development of TV broadcasting, the sole way to watch sports games was to participate in
them directly on the field, where fans could manifest their support to their favorite athletes or teams (Gaily, 2014, p. 718). These times were also during the Industrial Revolution during which the middle-class society started to spread; there were more working
opportunities, which meant better living conditions also from the economical point of
view. With a higher amount of people in the middle-class, the demand for newspapers
was greater as well. Even though newspapers provided a variety of news on a daily basis, sports coverage was the main section that was catching the publics interest. Publishing houses were competing against each other in order to reach higher sales (Rosandich,
2011).
In the 1970´s, media channels went through a modernization process, which came along
with the Age of Information. The traditional way of spreading information, which was
mostly in written form in publications in newspapers, took on a more democratic form
where the published content was not under the control of any particular individuals, like
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publishers or editors. With the advent of Information Age in the late 19th century, new
technologies were established, but the most important is the world wide web, through
which sports wormed their way into people’s houses and favorite places such as pubs,
bars and live streaming in city squares (Rosandich,2011). It was the beginning of the
self-presentation of the athletes through media channels. The construction of their identity was based on media coverage and the way media worked with information, which
was later on provided to the consumers.
The first official broadcasting of sports games appeared in Televisions in 1941 when the
WNTB station played a baseball game. Sports content and weather forecast has belonged to the program ever since the broadcasted material began. By this time, the material viewed on the television was primarily produced in the studios and afterwards
broadcasted. With the development of the satellite, they started ´on air´ broadcasting,
which brought international content into people´s televisions. Sports, as a part of broadcasted program, became very popular among consumers based on several reasons.
Schulz and Sheffer (2011) in their paper connected sport with ´´entertainment, selfesteem, escapism, aestheticism, learning, companionship, and group affiliation´´ (p.
182). Athletes were able to present their personas and became popular among a wider
society, which increased their fan communities, who are the most important consumers
of the sports coverage.
As Galily (2014) mentioned in his paper, the ordinary consumers of sports through traditional media have divided into two groups. Those who prefer to participate personally
in the events such as; football or hockey matches. They can share their emotions, see
what the cameras cannot see, absorb the irreplaceable atmosphere of the particular event
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and many other little issues, which make such an experience unique. The other groups
of the spectators of sports are those, who rather than spending whole days at the stadium, enjoy the comfort of their home or close company of their friends in familiar pubs
and bars. They are a fundamental part of the world of sport, mostly for economic reasons. They are not only consumers of sports, but also the main source of finances for the
organizers. They are also convinced that their appearance can change or even predict
the results of the game, and therefore their enthusiasm is even bigger while attending
these sporting events (p. 719). They believe that personal appearances at games or
matches is the best way to manifest their support towards athletes or teams.
Galily (2014).conducted a research focused on consumers and their different kinds of
experiences from watching sports on television and participating in games. The technological innovation did not only bring the possibility of home comfort, but mainly made
them realize the fact that, everything that is currently happening and considered as reality can be watched anytime and everywhere. It practically allowed people to avoid restrictions in distance and time. One of the beneficial aspects, of watching sport on TV
or even consumed through new media, is the new possibility to change the channel and
avoid the long waiting for the games. It is also increasing one's comfort connected with
the pleasure gained from sport.
The increasing audience of broadcasted sports content became the spotlight of attention
for companies, brands, and services. The broadcasted sports content changed, and it
contains lots of commercials, advertisements, and information related to the selfrepresentation of the particular brands, but mainly the athletes. One of the good examples where the brands used the chance via a huge sporting event to stand out is Super
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Bowl, Word Cups, Olympic Games and European Cups. The enormous amount of audiences guaranteed efficiency and effectiveness of advertising and promotions (Galily,2014, p. 719).
Cable television broadcasting brings the one-way communication, which means transition of the broadcasted content from the sender, which is television to the receiver, who
is in this case the consumer. This type of technology does not allow the audience to be
interactive, while broadcasting but on the other side it gives the audience a possibility of
´slow motion´, but also two and three dimensional quality of the visual elements (Galily,2014, p. 720). Even traditional media provided an immense amount of possibilities
for spectators and athletes alike to watch sports content, or even engage in it. The evolution of these technologies put the pleasure of sports on the higher level.
III. II. Sports as Entertainment in the Age of Modern Technologies
We know of sports today as one of the main sources of entertainment. They have their
origins in the Roman times. The purpose of sports occasion was similar; athletes were
competing against each other, and the powerful politicians could therefore emphasize
their status and dominant position in the society. Despite the fact that athletes were
mostly lower-class individuals, those events were very popular among the people and
also a great example of political power, which was dictating, what should be watched or
not (Coakley & Pike, 2009).
The new era of the digital technologies did not only bring the possibility of one-way
interaction, based on TV broadcasting, but also new media developments. The era of the
communication platforms and various media channels, whose purpose was to establish
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an immediate interaction with the audience while live streaming. When the option to
make the content viral appeared, the newspapers, and traditional media channels started
losing their importance and loyal consumers, mainly because of the easier access to the
content, which was brought by the social network system. The phenomenon, which appeared as the main concurrent of the tradition media was a blog and its capability of
creating and sharing own content. Communication among the people went through fast
development. The consumers of the particular content, in this case, sports news and information related to the athletes, were shared, transferred and absorb through two-ways
communication. Everything started based on the common interaction (Schulz& Sheffer,2008).
The content related to any topic, which was considered as news immediately occurred
on the Internet and therefore, it became easily accessible to wider audience. Based on
Schulz & Sheffer the Internet is (2008)´´ interactive media environment´´,(p. 109)
which provides the place for communicating platforms such as blogs or weblogs. The
innovation in the form of blogging came, as it was mentioned above, around 2004 and it
was and still is the kind of communication, which provides the most recent information
about particular topics, which are easy to find in the archives of these communication
platforms. This type of communication platform is based on two-way communication
between blog administrator, who is systematically updating the stories, and audience,
who share their ideas and opinions related to the topics such as; politics, sport, and entertainment through this ´´ web-based´´ platform, as it is called by the authors Schulz &
Sheffer (2008, p. 183). Blogs are establishing the space for interactivity of the interested
audience. Among typical features of the web blog belong; photos, news and combination of all types of media elements.
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This type of social interaction between fans can generate strong communities with the
same interests but also create the chance for the athletes to spread their ´´fan ship´´, and
represent their personality, through sharing private information, or rather behind the
scene information with their fans. Blogging is not connected only with the shared and
commented content. Likewise, other media platforms like blogs also provided incredible space for brands whose recognition and value can increase with every post(Schulz&
Sheffer,2008, p. 192).Today, more and more people start to use new media for the purpose of following sports content connected with their favorite athletes or teams. There
exists thousands of reasons why people follow this media content, but what should be
mainly mentioned is the difference between the consumption of sport through a male’s
and females’ perspective.
As Yoon, et al.,(2008) examined, the most common female’s motivators to follow and
consume sports content are related to the collection of information, visible activity on
social platforms, the need to obtain the athlete’s equipment or it is simply because of the
way the followed person is expressing her/himself. In this particular case, it is the style
of the author’s writing in the posts, or his or hers way of speaking in the videos. Male’s
motivational factors are partly similar, but the main reason of their interaction with the
athletes is the physical appearance of the athletes.
Traditional media such as television and radio noticed a decrease in audience, which led
to the assimilation of new strategies with the purpose to maintain viewership. Among
those practices belong blogs created by the main media distributors(Schulz& Sheffer,
2008, p. 184). The reason why traditional media are losing their demand among the
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people is the fact that social media provides an unconditional and easier access to information (Mangold&Faulds,2009, p. 359).
To support the previous idea the research made by Yoon, et al., (2014) was used, where
it is written that the audience absorbs better the information through social media, or
personal accounts of the athletes, rather than through traditional media channels. This
information is highlighting the fact that social media seems to be more trustworthy and
a sympathetic source of information about athletes than traditional media, and this is
one of the reasons why are athletes oriented towards the use of social communication
platforms, which likely result from the fact that athletes tend to rely on themselves during the process of mediating their personas, rather than on traditional media.
III.III. Sport through Web 2.0 and Web 3.0
The new ear of the communication technologies brought many innovations to two way
communication. First of all, it should be mentioned the invention which gave other
communication technologies the opportunity to achieve their current forms. The internet
is practically the basis of all communication platforms and provides the opportunity to
transfer the transition of information. Since the first demonstration of internet connection in 1962 by J.C.R. Licklider, the internet went through immense evolution process,
which brought many expressions which became part of a viral language (Leiner et
al.,2016) but also part of our everyday verbal expression and self-presentation.
At the first beginning of this era, there was only Web 1.0 which provided one-way
communication, or as Cormode, et al.,called “passive activity” of the users. Under the
section of web 1.0 services belonged; e-mail servers, craigslist and simple visits to websites without the possibility to interact. The two-way communication and likewise the
24
option of interaction came with the invention of Web 2.0, which is practically considered as a combination of the old and new type of network. Web 2.0 was established between the years 2003 and 2004, which also brought the era of social sites such as Facebook and MySpace but mainly the age of the blogs. Web 2.0 is not oriented only toward
communication among the users, but mostly, it is based on its users. The dynamic social
sites offer an option to establish a personal profile page, which can contain demographics of the users. They can also create a membership and friendships among the
users, share, and control own content. The use of social communication platforms is not
only just exchanging text messages, but it is also about creating a virtual social community, which is based on the Web 2.0. A further accomplishment, which came with the
Web 2.0,are the alternatives to watch sports events anytime and everywhere. The online
TV, blogs, web pages, or online radio stations provide a delight of the live broadcast for
those, who are not able to see and enjoy it while broadcasting time. The assets of Web
2.0 are the possibilities that ´´ individuals can post self-relevant information, link to
other members and interact with other members, which can help them in the process of
self-presentation (Mehdizadeh, 2010 p. 357).To simplify it, the Web 2.0 is the exact opposite of the Web 1.0 (Cormode et al.,2008) rather than Web 3.0 is essentially the future
model of the Internet.
Web 3.0 is currently not a very widespread term among the users of the newest technologies. Practically, it is a third generation of the web, which increases the level of the use
of the internet. Web 3.0 is very similar to the second generation, Web 2.0, but this third
version is more sophisticated from the technological point of view. The main purpose of
this system it to collect the information about users and their interest through published
25
content on social platforms without the necessity of participating in questionnaires and
surveys.
To clarify the functions and benefits of Web 3.0 can be condensed into a statement
made by Rosandich (2011), where he says that, ´´Web 3.0 has yet to emerge, but a consensus is building that it will be a combination of technology through which the entire
network is turned into a database combined with the marshalling of human resources.
New computer languages such as HTML5 will allow computers to read online content
and so will facilitate the identification and indexing of the web, process that will make
content more accessible´´ (n.p.). This type of innovation not only simplified the way of
athletes´ self-presentation, but it caused the fact that famous public figures are not dependent on traditional media in the process of mediation, in such instances as they were
before the invention of Internet.
III. IV. The Consumption of Sport through New Media
Hundreds of researchers can examine thousands of motivational factors that lead people
to consume sports media coverage. Among the most significant motivators belong; fan
ship, desire for information, support of their favourite athletes or teams, pleasure caused
by athletes' performance and interest in the sport.
As it was mentioned in the previous chapter, traditional media started to lose their credibility in a manner of celebrity presentation. The content, which was published by TV or
newspapers, was improved and modified by the journalists and therefore the entire consumption through social media network system became more popular, not only among
fans and consumers of the media but mainly among athletes. This fact was also support-
26
ed by Smith and Sanderson (2015), when they said that, ´´by using these platforms; athletes take a more active part in their public presentation and share more aspects of their
identity than is typically portrayed in mainstream media coverage´´ (p. 343). This function of social media gives athletes and celebrities a privilege to present themselves in
the proper way and reveal information necessary for interaction with their followers
(Sanderson, 2013).
People trust more social media content than traditional media mainstreaming (Sanderson,2008). The reason for this shift was caused by the fact that journalists and media
producers, who tend to improve news and the whole ´image´ of the athletes in the way
they want to (Smith&Sanderson,2015). As it was pointed out by Mangold & Faulds
(2009), ´´Social media is perceived by consumers as a trustworthy source of information regarding products and services´´ (p. 360).
IV. Social Media and Sport
This chapter aims to provide the reader with information related to the connection of
sport with social media and its importance in the process of self-presentation and communication strategies among athletes and fans. Furthermore, there will be explained
why the social media are a powerful tool, which can influence its users and why they
became highly used in business spheres.
Thanks to the ´´Information Communication Technologies´´, media content became
more accessible, and it caused the increase in the demand for sports coverage. Social
media, the official sports Websites, blogs and many other similar communication platforms became more popular among the people than traditional media (Maher,2007).
27
The shared sports context is becoming the main topic of the discussion forums where
fan groups are engaging other fans into the debates (Sanderson, 2008). Fans or Followers might be friends of the friends of fans, who follow athletes or the brands, which are
presented by the athletes. Into this group, we can also put the people who do not have a
direct connection with any sport (Colapinto & Benecchi). To become a follower, people
have to have a social media account within a communication platform and follow the
information about a particular person, product, or service. People are motivated to follow their favorite athletes or teams because of the self-association with the athletes
(Frederick, at al, 2012). To clarify the function of the social network, based on the Mata&Quesada (2014) ´´A social network is a social structure composed of individuals or
organizations, called nodes, which are interrelated or connected´´. (p. 4)
With the advent of social media communication platforms, people who were working
on the constant transition of information about athletes to media are no longer responsible for this part of the promotional process (Hambrick, et at.,2010). Social media do not
only provide the communication possibilities for its users. Likely the information gathering, advantage of creation of communication communities and as Hambrick (2010)
said, social media help with ´self-esteem´ (p. 456) of its users.
Twitter is one of the most popular communication platforms of the 21st century. Its
forms and structures are similar to micro blogs, where you can share and post the content with the maximum amount of 140 characters. It is rather a communication platform, where the users send and share ´tweets´, messages. Twitter has a very similar
style and structure as ICQ does, but the communication through Twitter is transparent
and therefore visible for public and other users of Twitter. Twitter, as a communication
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and information platform, provides the option of decision-making, where the users can
decide in which way they want to use it. They can read the articles, communicate with
the relatives and friends, and follow the celebrities or athletes. Likely celebrities are enabled to monitor content, which is related to their persona (Hambrick, et al., 2010). This
communication platform allows followers to express their ideas and manifest their support towards particular athletes with other fans (Ellison, Steinfield&Lamp,2007; Raacke
& Bonds-Raacke, 2008).
Another revolutionary communication platform is Facebook, which well as the other
social networks, is used for communication and interactivity with fans, but mainly for
the sharing the content, which is further followed by fans. It is an extensive web system,
which provides an easy browsing and sharing of desired information. The active users
of Facebook can demonstrate via ´´like button´´, if they were interested in the shared
content, which appeared on their home pages A published content can appear on profiles of other Facebook users, which seems like a substantial tool for mediation of sport
and athletes in larger quantities (Lipsman et al.,2012).
There is no such rule that, would say that athletes have to share and post the information related just to sport. From the favorite pair of shoes, preferred restaurants, and
bars, from training exercises to eating habits, everything, which seems worthy to share,
appears on the social platforms of the athletes with the purpose to maintain the interest
of the fans (Hambrick, et at.,2010). The athletes can manipulate the interests of the people and therefore are also able to convince them to follow them. Therefore, the information, which is connected with the personal life of athletes and their interests, creates
29
relationships between fans and athletes, which is the result of the successful interaction
between fans and athletes.
IV.I. The Power of Social Media
The way social media increased the communication among people and enlarged its
power and ability to manipulate with the people´s minds. Social media found its function as a huge disseminator and information creator, which since its establishment
reached the interest of many people (Mata&Quesada, 2014). Social media used to be
used as an informational tool for presentation of an individual´s identity. It can be considered as a type of virtual space, where everyone has a right for self-expression and can
share their ideas and emotions with other people (Papacharissi, 2002). Innovation such
as online connection brought a revolution in various spheres such as; information gathering, demand for products and influenced the decision-making process of customers
(Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
The easier accessibility to the desired content, is not the only benefit of the newest
communication technologies. With this advantage also came the question of credibility
of the information, which appeared mainly with the immense amount of created social
media accounts, which seemed to be false or stolen. This aspect leads people to think
suspiciously to not trust all virtual communities and web pages that appeared on the
Web(Sanderson, 2008).The communication through social media brought also the possibility of self-expression via images, which in many cases say more than a simple written text (Essahess, 2011). To clarify the purpose of these communication platforms
based on the Holt (2016), ´´Social media allows fans to create rich communities around
entertainers, who interact directly with them in a barrage of tweets, pins and posts.
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Sports teams now hire social media ambassadors to reach out to fans in real-time during
games, and once the game is over, the players send along an insider photo and held
locker-room chats´´ (p.46).
The efficiency of social media usage highly depends on one's attitude and aptitude of
disclosure of aspects of one's identity, which can manipulate the followers in many
ways, for instance in one's personal presence, the way they talk or express themselves,
etc., (Papacharissi, 2002). Public figures are in a large way accountable of how the audience perceives them (Smith & Sanderson, 2015). With the increasing popularity, athletes are also enabled to manipulate, influence and guide other people, respectively followers. They are aware that the message they communicate will be seen by millions of
followers around the world, and therefore, athletes have to be very careful about the
content they share (Papacharissi, 2002).
IV.II. A Communication Strategies
The new media technologies, like social media, provide an immense amount of opportunities for fans to connect with each other and with their favorite athletes. The professional athletes tend to use the social media platform such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, MySpace, etc., with the main purpose to emphasize a connection with their followers. In 2004, when the Facebook and MySpace were introduced to wider society,
their amount of users around the world increased very rapidly (Fisher, 2009). By this
year, the amount of active users of Facebook overcame 1.5 billiard users.
To be successful in self-presentation, athletes should consider the most effective strategies of communication with their fans. Instead of passive posting of text or other types
31
of media materials, each athlete should engage followers into the discussions on a particular topic. By asking questions and prompting them to answer directly or tag the other people, athletes provide fans the feeling of interaction with their role models, which
strengthens their relationships (Sanderson, 2013).
Through the posts, which athletes share, fans can acquire the knowledge about the preparation for a competition, training tactics, some behind the scene information about their
rivals but mainly the athlete’s reaction and emotions towards the results of the game
(Hambrick, et at., 2010). The athletes can use the loyalty of the followers in a way to
increase the amount of the fanship community. The process of reaching new followers
is simply a process of sharing the right content. It is a process, in which, athletes can
mention the name of other athletes, special events, celebrities or any brands. The suggested content, if it is properly tagged, will be seen by the followers of tagged aspects
(Hambrick, et al., 2010). Each type of social media platforms has its own list of famous
celebrities or the names that are being most frequently mentioned in people´s posts.
Twitter or Instagram are overcrowded by the posts related to the sports megastars or
sports teams (Holt, 2016). One of the most effective communication strategies, which
also contributes to the development of brand´s popularity, is the appeal to customers
emotions, which is very often connected with the self-presentation of the athletes and
their experiences from private life (Santomier, 2008). When athletes or brands provide
fans an opportunity to express their point of view to a particular topic, fans will acquire
the feeling of importance and necessity, and it will, in the end, maintain relationships
between fans and athletes (Toyota, 2008).
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IV. III. Marketing Strategies in Sport. Branding and Sponsorship
Social media appeared to be a ´cost effective´ medium in cooperation with professional
athletes. Therefore, social media became more attractive regarding investment than traditional media. Social media did not only facilitate the life of athletes, but they became
very desirable in the business sphere. Particularly, in the online marketing field, this
means a process of investments into the favorite brands. (Filo, Lock & Karg, 2015)
Brands , which do not operate through social media are losing a significant opportunity
to increase their awareness among the public. Social media are the dominant medium
that disseminate information (Mangold & Faulds, 2009) and which, modifies their entire communication between the brands and consumers (Mangold&Faulds,2009)
through which, they found their application also in the business sphere because of their
advantages related to unpaid advertising (Mata & Quesada, 2014).
Through the use of communication platforms, companies or brands can communicate
with the customers and monitor their ideas, comments, and expectations they have towards their businesses. This type of communication among the customers has a more
personal style and therefore is very effective (Filo, Lock & Karg, 2015). Companies can
communicate everything immediately with their customers and vice versa through social media, blogs, and web pages. The companies cannot control shared content, which
put them into the disadvantageous situation where the negative comments can affect
their reputation (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Every new brand is trying to reach the market and be as unique as possible. The favorite
brands that are known worldwide have their own story, which is trading with every
product or service. Social networks allowed the utilization of various visual and music
33
effects, which made the brand unique (Holt, 2016). To be successful on the market,
each brand should be visible and clearly recognizable. These requirements for efficiency of the brand are reachable through social media platforms. Branding is also the crucial part of the word of sport where the main financial supports are coming from the
consumer’s interaction. It creates a triangle between athletes, fans, and a particular
brand. Athletes entertain publics who are willing to spend time and money and watch
their performances through traditional and social media or personal appearance at
events. People buy tickets or sports equipment through which they manifest the support
to particular athletes or teams. Athletes are doing advertising to brands, and they provide them some sponsorship. It is like the win-win strategy for each party. It can be
claimed that everyone is satisfied with this type of ´cooperation´ (Watkins,
2014;Fisher&Wakefield, 1998).
The use of Internet brings many benefits that companies can get from content that is
shared and presented through social sites. This kind of information can make the development of the brand more efficient (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). Comments, feedbacks,
ideas, and opinions can move them forward to reach more customers. The younger
generation of the customers is relying mainly on the recommendations and reviews they
find on the internet, and therefore, the companies should be aware of the content that
people share under their name and not underestimate the power of social media (Mata &
Quesada, 2014). In many cases, the main goal of the brand is to meet the expectations
of customers in order to increase demand for their products (Watkins, 2014) and therefore, they gather information from the consumer’s posts on the social network system.
Fans and consumers of the sport are not the only subjects’ of interest of the athletes.
Since, the vast popularity of the athletes, companies, and organizations started to en-
34
gage athletes in their business in order to increase the efficiency of the market. Many
companies use the face of athletes as the most important aspects of their promotional
campaign because the popularity of chosen celebrities who are ´´representing the value
of the brand´´, which leads to the fact that this strategy can affect the decision making
of the consumers (Rubio-Hernandez, 2011, p. 115).
The innovation of marketing strategies along with social media strengthens a demand of
sport. As it was mentioned by Santomier (2008),´´ New media has become a vehicle for
the expansion of integrated marketing communications´´ (n.p ). The engagement of athletes into the brand presentation is very useful mainly despite the fact that these celebrities currently are, and always will be some kind of attraction for the public, especially
for targeted public. The way athletes present themselves, their lifestyle, their ideas, and
opinions; all these factors can influence the sales of the brands to some extent. Therefore, social media accounts are not only personal profiles but also rather a commercial
issue (Colapinto & Benecchi , 2014). Some athletes are required to follow the prescribed restrictions and settled rules related to their behaviors. These limitations are resolved down by organizations or sponsors, whose profitability depends on the social
presentation of the athletes. They cannot afford to lose loyal customers because of to the
inappropriate behavior of the athletes they support (Sanderson, 2012).
The opportunity of cooperation between athletes and famous sports brands became an
inevitable part of the process of recognition and self-presentation. Through sponsorships, brands can enlarge their global awareness, and sponsored individuals are also rewarded from this type of cooperation (Colapinto & Benecchi, 2014). Among the reasons why brands are willing to invest into the sponsorships also belongs the fact that
35
they are enhancing the efficiency of the marketing strategies they applied through new
media (Paul, 2007). Likewise, that ´´sport is a traditional, lucrative, and universal form
of popular culture´´ (Andrews& Jackson,2001;Colapinto&Benecchi,2014, p. 221),
which can catch the interest of the mass population. Many popular brands such as Adidas, Visa, Samsung, Nike, etc., invest strictly in sponsorship issues. They are aware of
the fact that the investment into this sphere will provide them financial income and increase brand awareness. Athletes or sports teams will also gain benefits from this kind
of collaboration whether we are talking about self-presentation, funding, or sponsorship
with the help of supplying sports equipment (Santomier, 2008).
The cooperation of the brands and companies with the athletes does not only focus on
the increasing of the awareness of particular products but in many cases, the whole
campaign is concerning to the issues related to the entire world, such as; racism, global
warming, terrorism, etc. The main idea of these international campaigns is to use the
status of celebrities to influence and address mass publics (Rubio-Hernandez, 2001).
Therefore, the influential power of celebrities in not used only in business manner but
also in the process of disseminating of important messages.
V. The Virtual Identity of Athletes
This chapter will examine the virtual world in which the users can create an identity
based on their needs and expectations. This is one of the options, which belongs under
the innovation of the viral world where the user has to distinguish carefully between
reality and online space which can be in many cases different from the reality. Many
athletes use social media platform for self-presentation and as a tool for shaping the relationship with their fans. It is nothing unusual that reality differs from the viral world
36
in many aspects of one’s identity. As, it was mentioned by Kim, Papacharissi (2003);
Smith and Sanderson, (2015) who claimed that sometimes the identity construction results in ´´silent identity´´ (p. 344), which represents the idea that online identity can differ from personal identity of individuals.
For dissemination process of sports news, were always responsible sports journalists
who not always produced trustworthy and positive media coverage about athletes
(Sanderson, 2012) and it results in increased demand for crisis management. Athletes
personally, or in many cases the ambassadors of their social media accounts have control and monitor the shared content in order to predict a damage of one’s reputation
(Dart, 2014). Even though, there are many cases when the athletes were connected with
the misleading information, which was harmful to their reputation and in these cases
they could use the advantage of the social network system and neutralize the information, which was published by traditional media and, which negatively affected their
reputation (Sanderson, 2012). Based on the ability to launch a communication with other people through various communication platforms, the active users create a social
identity and through which can influence the perception of the people with the purpose
to reach followers (Garbasevschi, 2015).
Users are motivated to use and own the profile at communication platforms with the
purpose to present themselves. They observe this virtual space as something where they
can express and share their ideas and feel somehow independent from any restrictions
(Mehdizadeh, 2010). The reason why do people create an online identity is the need to
´´create and maintain a good impression about themselves´´ (Garbasevschi, 2015, p.
37
17). This strategy is furthermore connected not only with self-presentation but also with
marketing strategy (Garbasevschi, 2015).
The virtual world provides an opportunity to become whoever the users want to become. The identity of the celebrities is, from the big part created by the content they
share through social media. The users of the social networks can act in a way they chose
which can differ from their performance in real life situations (Stone 1996 & Turkle,
1995). Even though the online world is considered for a place where everybody can be
whoever he or she wants, the identity construction through social media can be influenced and limited only by the settings and restrictions of particular communication platforms (Zhao et at., 2008).
Based on the fact that athletes are under the control of millions of viewers, they are responsible for the content they share with their audiences. Specific characteristics of the
person are aspects that cannot be presented by the other person. The personal feelings,
individuals interests, relationships, etc., all those issues belong to the private zone of
everybody, and therefore, fans immensely appreciate this type of disclosure of their secret field of life. It serves as a tool that creates a trust among the fans (Smith & Sanderson, 2013).As, it was mentioned by Papacharissi (2002), there is a significant difference
between physical, face-to-face presentation of the person and self-presentation through
social media. Online space provides an opportunity or even to improve one’s image or
even hide some shortcomings which would be visible during the face-to-face presentation. Use of social media accounts enables users to not only create their virtual identity
but also act as they want. It is in many cases different than their behavior in the everyday personal presentation (Mehdizadeh, 2010).
38
To clarify the advantages that athletes can gain from the use of social media accounts,
the users use them for ´´identity construction´´, and therefore communication platforms
like MySpace and Facebook or Instagram are used, mainly because of their ´´ controlled
and to some extent also save environment´´ which they provide (Mehdizadeh, 2010).
Nowadays, athletes can determine which type of ´´identity´´ will be mostly accepted
among the people. Audiences can emphasize the particular components of athletes identity through communication platforms (Kim & Papacharissi, 2003, p. 914) and its success can be deduced from the comments and feedbacks received in connection with the
shared content (Sanderson, 2012). Based on the popularity of the shared content, individuals can consider to which extent their virtual identity is recognized among people
(Garbasevschi, 2015).
V.I. Identity Construction and Presentation of Athletes by Social Media
The self-presentation of celebrities and public figures has changed, with the invention
of communication technologies. The use of traditional media was in this field replaced
by the social networks. Social media modified the self-presentation of the athletes and
generally, all public figures in such way that they can easily control and coordinate the
shared content which links to their names and through this process they can propagate
themselves among wider audiences (Smith&Sanderson, 2015). It is connected to the
new habit, to share everything through social network system, which was extended
among the people. It can be viewed as a type of process of socialization. Personal information sharing came with the introduction of the social network system, which creates the need for self-expression on these communication platforms (Garbasevschi,
2015).
39
Social media facilitate the presentation of particular aspects of athletes’ identity, such as
humorous and unusual occasions; therefore, these media channels are preferable among
the users (Sanderson, 2012). Identity construction can be seen as the motivational and
influential factor for followers. People can create the ´ideal identity´ in order to raise the
interest of the other people. The process of self-association with the athletes is known
under the term ´´athletic identity´´ (Proios, 2013 p. 440). Athletes are using different
kinds of identities based on the situation they are in (Sanderson, 2012) and therefore,
athletes have the intention to establish a central identity on social networks, which
serves as a disseminating channel of information among the people (Sanderson, 2012).
Goffman (1959) was convinced about the fact that self-image of the athletes can be introduced through verbal or written form of communication most importantly, it has to
meet the expectations of the audience, and the presenter, (athletes), should be completely aware of the purpose of own presentation (Sanderson, 2008). Through communication platforms, audiences can emphasize the particular components of their identity.
(Kim & Papacharissi, 2003) Another idea that Goffman (1956) examines in his work
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life was that, ”self-presentation in everyday life is
an ongoing process of information managements and distinguished between the expressions one gives and the expressions given off”. (n.p.) The process of self-presentation
was not always the intentional process of raising the awareness of one´s existence. A
few years ago, the identity construction was used for the purpose of anonymous activity
of the social network users. (Garbasevschi, 2015)
40
The online identity is made from the information that are situated on the internet and
which contains signs of real identity of athletes and therefore when putting all these
pieces of characteristics together, people can create a new viral identity they can present
themselves with. (Garbasevschi, 2015) The online identity of the athletes is called ´´
socio-communication phenomenon´´ through which they can interact with their followers on social media site. (Garbasevschi, 2015, p. 20)
There are two ways, which can be used in the process of self-presentation. It is up to the
users which type of information will be presented and in which light they want to be
seen. Users can reveal only as much of their personalities as they want. They can also
improve or conceal their real character through this technological innovation such as
The Internet (Mehdizadeh, 2010) and therefore, self-presentation of users can sometimes be caused by hints of narcissism. As it was explained by Mahdizadeh (2010),
“Narcissism is a passive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and an exaggerated
self-views of agented traits, including intelligence, physical attractiveness, and power´´
(p. 358). People, who are the narcissist, use the Web 2.0 applications to increase their
“popularity” among other users. They want to be observed in the best way, which can
be later considered as ´false identity (Mehdizadeh, 2010).
The reputation of the celebrities is based on either their social activity on communication platforms or the media coverage produced by journalists. They do not only posting
the content related to their life and sports performance, but they also are lead to communicate with the fans and create a relationship with them (Branama & Lemert, 1997)
and therefore the key aspect of successful self-presentation is to understand the needs of
followers to be an interesting subject for them (Garbasevschi, 2015).
41
V.I. I. The Shaping of Relationship between Fans and Athletes through
Social Media
The relationship among people is one of the key factors while the process of acquiring
of new information need for better understanding of others. As, it was examined by the
Cunninghaman & Bright (2012), the online communication between fans and athletes is
becoming a necessity in the creation of relationships among them. People have role
models who they follow with an aim to understand their lifestyle, habits, interests, etc.,
and it happens quite often that people identify with their role models. As it was examined by Underwood, Bond & Baer (2001),´´ fan identification is a manifestation of social identification.'' (n.p.)
Each public figure, which runs an own social communication platform, needs to be
recognized and in some way unique which can help him/her to gain more popularity
among the people. This process of recognition interconnects with their reputation. The
reputation of the celebrities is based not only on their social activity through the social
network, but it also depends on the media coverage published by journalists. Athletes
do not only post the content related to their life and sports performance, but they are also lead to emphasize the communication with the fans and create a relationship with
them (Branama & Lemert,1997). Even though the identity presentation of the athletes
through the social network can enlarge a number of fans, there are some disadvantages
caused by disclosure of personal information. One of the instances is the situation when
the personal information is misused, by others who create a ´´ fake profile´, which can
harm one’s reputation (Sanderson, 2012, p. 421). The individuals, who tend to create
false social media profiles and steal the identity of the celebrities do this with the purpose of marketing or PR strategies (Colapinto & Benecchi, 2015). Their approach is to
42
promote their products or services under the name of the famous athletes without their
consciousness.
When the athletes try to create a connection with their fans they should focus on the
fans´ engagement with the athlete’s world (Pifer et al., 2015). Through the posts, which
are covering personal experiences of the athletes, followers can look inside the private
life of athletes and express their thoughts, ideas and even ask the questions or tag another people (Sanderson, 2012). This type of two-way communication will make fans identify with the favorite athletes, and it can increase the overall fandom and awareness of
the athletes (Pifer et al., 2015). When the athletes engage fans into the discussions, athletes appear to be interested in the opinions of the followers, and it makes the relationship more personal (Sanderson, 2012). Furthermore, followers perceive the followed
athletes as trustworthy individuals and therefore, fans can be easily influenced by their
role models (Sanderson, 2012) which can be used for benefits of someone else, for instance, the sponsors, stakeholders, salesman, etc. Through the posting and sharing the
content on the social network, the “parasocial relationship” between fans and athletes is
created. This type of relationship is based on the two-way communication where the
follower is interested in the information not only from the sports performance of the
athletes but also about the behind the scene information (Geurin-Eagleman & Burch,
2016, p. 136).
To simplify it, to establish an efficient connection with fans and athletes, athletes have
to convince their fans via appeal of emotions and provide them feeling of importance.
Athletes have to disclose the feelings because direct disclosure of private informational
helps fans to identify with the athletes, which in the end creates a strong relationship
43
with them which is an inevitable element of today´s world social media (Pifer et
at.,2015).
V.II. Identity Construction with Sports Figures and Fans in Slovakia:
A case study
This paper focused on the identity construction of the athletes through social media
networks and the relationship between fans and athletes, which can be emphasized
based on the activity at athlete’s social media profiles. To test the theory, research was
conducted among Slovak consumers of sport and fans of athletes.
For this particular part of my survey two research methods were used; Qualitative
Methods and Quantitative research methods. Qualitative method took the form of interviews, which were made with three professional athletes of Slovak Republic; Adam and
Andreas Žampa, who are professional Alpine skiers and Štefan Svitko, who is representing Slovakia in motocross. These athletes were chosen because of their huge
amount of followers they have on social media accounts. The interviews were made to
determine athletes´ relationship towards social media networks and the communication
strategies they use for communication with their fans. The quantitative method took the
form of the questionnaire in which, were participating people from the Slovak Republic.
Each of the documents, survey and interviews, can be found in the appendix of this paper.
44
VI. II. I. Survey
Method
The quantitative research method has consisted of the questionnaire, which was created
with the purpose to answer the research question RQ1:'' Why do people in Slovakia follow sports figures on Social Media?´´ In order to predict the limitation of the selfexpression of the participants, each participant had an opportunity to tick more than one
of the provided answers.
Sample
On the questionnaire mentioned above (see Appendix ), were participating one hundred
people from Slovakia between twelve to forty years old, where sixty-six were female
participants and thirty-four male participants (see Appendix, Table 1 ), who have at
least some interest in sport.
Data analysis
Data were collected through online survey and processed manually to be compared with
the previous findings included in theoretical part of this paper.
The first fact, which was found out is related to the interest of the sport consumption,
which is supported by the results of the first question, which asked about their consumption of sport (see Appendix Q1), where the more than half of the respondents answered that they consume sport daily or frequently with 53% and only 13% of participants did not consume a sport coverage at all. In the following section (see Appendix
Q2), participants were asked about the favorite media channel through which participants gather information related to the sport. They have been invited to pick among various options where Social media as a media source, reached the higher percentage with
45
37%, traditional media got only 4% less, which is in this case very surprising information according to the previous findings that the credibility and popularity of the traditional media are decreasing mostly because of the existence of Social Media. The main
reason of decreasing popularity of traditional media is also the fact that they do not always provide trustworthy information about the athletes which can result in misleading
media coverage with harmful effects on one’s reputation. This point is also supported
by the findings from the following question, where the participants were asked to express their opinions towards the way traditional media portrays athletes, (see Appendix
Q4) where only 18% of the participants were satisfied with the way media represents
athletes and 20% of them do not trust the media coverage at all. Most of the participants, exactly 62%, use to use various media channels to compare the information and
come up with the own conclusion about mediated topic. To return to the media channels, new media with 23% and personal contact with the athletes with 6% did not appear as a popular source of desired information among the participants. (see Appendix
Q2)
The fifth question was related to using of specific media channels among consumers of
the sport like; Facebook, Instagram, Youtube Twitter and Snapchat, where the higher
percentage got a Facebook with 80.43% and Instagram with 56.52%. (see Appendix Q
5) which supports the fact that these communication platforms are the most popular
communication channels also in Slovakia.
The next question (see Appendix Q6) was related to the reason why do people consume
sports coverage in media where participants voted that the reason why they are interested in the sports coverage is the fact that they want to see their favorite athlete or team
46
who they are identifying with. This option reached 39%, and close behind was the ordinary interest of the sport with 27% and information gathering with 18%. The physical
attractiveness of the athletes with 7% did not appear as sufficient reason to consume
sport, which is very surprising because the physical appearance of the athletes is one of
the factors that motivate people to engage in the sports activities. The similar percentage
reached the interest of the brands that are promoted by the athletes with 4% or social
interaction with the athletes with only 5%, which based on the research included in the
theoretical part of this paper, should be one of the main reasons why do people use social media when consuming a sport.
The question number three was related to the type of information users are looking for.
(see Appendix Q3). They were asked, whether information which they are looking for
are related to the results of the competition or performance of the particular athlete’s
personal stories or simply the delight from the live streaming. The even distribution of
the percentage with little differences supports the fact that people have various reasons
to follow the sports coverage on the media channels.
Based on the fact that my thesis focuses on identity construction of athletes through social media, my further question was related to the people’s perception and the way they
observe the athletes’ identity presented through social media channels.(see Appendix
Q7) Most of the participants, exactly 55%, agreed with the fact that athletes share only
what they want and in this way can shape the perception of the audience, which in the
end has nothing in common with their real identity. Even though the audience is aware
of the fact that athletes can manipulate their perception, 24% of the participants agreed
that the shared content on the social media is trustworthy and only 8% of them identi-
47
fied with the fact that athletes do not share a reliable content through social media. The
group of the people who were not interested in athletes’ virtual identity captured 13% of
the total amount of participants.
In the last section of the questionnaire, participants were asked to answer the question
related to the both-side interaction between the fans and athletes and the potential relationship which can be created as a result of partial disclosure of the private information
of the athletes (see Appendix Q8 and Q9). A major part of the participants, exactly
44%, have never been thinking about the fact that interaction on social networks between fans and athletes can establish a closer relationship with them. On the other hand,
28% of respondents had as well as positive as negative opinion toward this issue. Regarding the type of information which should be considered as an aspect which creates a
closer relationship between fans and athletes, participants were mostly identified with
the option where it depends on what type of information athlete disclose which represents 49% of the answers. Slightly less percentage achieved an option where participants agreed with the fact that partial disclosure of the private information can emphasize the relationship between fans and athletes and only 14% did not agree.
Discussion
The information gathered from the answers of the participants were in many cases different with the information which was collected from the various authors who were researching the topics related to the self-presentation of the athletes and their relationship
with the fans. Even though the several studies examined the fact that traditional media
are losing their credibility and loyal consumers according to the development of the so-
48
cial networks, the participants of my survey are still convinced about the credibility of
the traditional media and relying on them as the main source of sports coverage.
The overall interest of the consumers of the sport is highly depended on one’s needs and
expectations which also proving the fact that athletes should be active in their social activity through communication platform in a various way, and share a diverse material to
fulfill the expectation of the wider audience. Since, the public started to be aware of the
existence of false profiles of the athletes, which were producing a misleading information about them, they are more skeptical towards published material either at social
networks or through traditional media. This is the reason why their opinions are based
on the combination of the media sources, and therefore, they do not feel that someone is
manipulating them.
Based on the findings from the theoretical part of this paper, the relationship between
athletes and fans use to be established and strengthen based on the two-way interaction
between athletes and fans. The engagement of the fans into the discussions, the online
chat rooms, and many other possibilities where there is a direct contact with the athletes
should evoke a feeling of closer and more personal relationship with athletes. From the
answers of the participants, the majority of them have never been thinking about it in
this way which can be understood as the automatic but unconscious creation of the relationships because they do not express their disagreement even though they could. They
also did not consider a disclosure of the personal life through social media as one of the
factors, which strengthen the relationships among them. These facts are different in
comparison with the facts, which were collected from the studies made in the various
countries. People in Slovakia obviously do not consider a behind the scene information
49
on the athletes as important as in different countries which can be understood as the fact
that the main motivation of consumption of the sport is sports performance of the athletes and favorite teams.
V. II. II. Interviews
Method
In this particular section of my research were used structural interviews as part of qualitative research method where interviewees were the professional athletes of the Slovak
Republic, who were asked to answer the questions which were delivered them via email. The purpose of this research method was to answer second research question RQ2
´´ What is the relation of athletes towards use of social media in process of selfpresentation and communication with fans.´´
Sample
On the interviews, were participating three athletes, who were asked to answer the same
questions in order to get their different perspective on the same issues. Two out of three
athletes were Slovak Alpine Skiers, brothers Adam and Andreas Žampa who are 24 and
22 years old whose road to the ´´ fame ´´ was challenging and full of sacrifices and
fights for better conditions where they could develop their talent. They are both members of the national team of Slovak Republic; they are well known among the sports
community similarly as among the Slovak people mainly because of their social activity
through social media and relationship with the traditional media.
The third member who was interviewed was Slovak representative in motocross Štefan
Svitko, 28, who belongs among the world’s best riders on the motorbike who as well as
50
mentioned Alpine skiers, had to work hard to get where he is now, among the top professional athletes of Slovak Republic.
Data Analysis
Collected data from three interviews was analyzed to prove but also disprove my points
related to the theoretical part of this paper and compare it with particular findings from
quantitative research. The interviewees were asked to answer several question related to
their relationship towards social media networks and their communication with fans.
The first question was focused on their relationship they have towards the media channels and what led them to start with the use of social media accounts. One out of three
participants answered that the main reason that led him to start with social media activity was following his dream. ´´ Basically, I always had ideas connected to running my
websites, but I had to wait for the right moment.....I mean, I had to wait till my result in
World Cup will help me to catch the interest of the public´´( Andreas Žampa,
29.2.2016). Other participant answered that he started with running his blog and web
page because he wanted to provide a different perspective of the sport to the fans of alpine skiing(Adam Žampa). In the case of the third participant, the idea of mediation
through social media came from his manager and currently also the ambassador of his
media accounts (Štefan Svitko,20.3.2016).This is proving the fact that some athletes are
relying on their managers in running and updating their social media accounts.
The following question focused on the way they perceive the power of social media and
in which, way the social media activity influenced their popularity among the people.
All of the participants answered that they do agree with the fact that social media helped
them to mediate themselves and increase the awareness of their sport across the Slovakia but mainly raise the amount of the followers. As it was said by Adam Žampa
51
(15.3.2016), ´´ Use of Social Media helped me a lot in my ´virtual presentation´ and I
am sure that without my activity at social media, the overall number of my followers
would be much lower´´(Adam Žampa,29.2.2016). One of the athletes met with a different process of mediation. Štefan Svitko, as only one who could be considered as the potential successor of a recent champion in motocross, reached the interest of the media
and later of public as well, mainly thanks to the Jaromir Jakeš, who was presenting him
as a new hope for the Slovak Republic in motocross. By this time, he was invisible
among Slovak consumers of sport.
In this research were also considered the information related to the separated social media accounts to prove that athletes are dividing their professional life from their privacy.
All of the respondents answered unanimously that they do have a private social media
account for a narrow circle of friends and one, where they are followed by thousands of
fans. Another question, whether they agree with the statement that social media accounts serves mainly as a promotional tool used for self-presentation they answered that
´´ The good thing about social media is the fact that you can share only the content you
want and through the reaction of the people I can determine what works and what does
not´´ (Adam Žampa,29.2.2016). In the case of Štefan Svitko, whose fandom is made of
35 000 of followers, he is the owner of the social media accounts only as a professional
athlete. He does not use them in personal life. The only communication device he uses
is a mobile phone in order to protect himself and his family from the unwanted popularity. Some of the respondents use social media to present themselves not only as professional athletes but also as a human being where the Svitko is trying to keep his privacy
for himself.
52
A further question was focused on the motivational factors, which make people become
followers. All participants agreed that the good results, achievements, and passion for
the sport were the strongest aspects, which can catch people’s interest. Adam Žampa
said that´´ people always like it if someone is different or special. People just need to
like the way you behave, the way you act to start to follow you´´ (Adam Žampa,
29.2.2016). In order to keep their interest, athletes have to consider specific strategies
and communication methods, which will help them to emphasize and strengthen the relationships among them. As it was mentioned above, some athletes have ambassadors
of their media accounts who are responsible for running their social media activity, but
when the athletes are not too busy with self-improvement, they try to communicate with
their fans through comments, posts, and through discussions in order to see what do
people think.
Participants also received a question connected to traditional media and their relationship with them. All of them responded that even though they prefer a self-presentation
through their media accounts, the traditional media could also help them in the process
of mediation and reaching the sponsors. Traditional media are competing with social
media also because of the reproduction of misleading and untrustworthy content, which
was published. Although all three interviewed athletes were victims of traditional media, which produced articles that caused a harmful effect on their reputation, they try to
keep a neutral relationship with them.
One of the last points, which will be covered in this section, is related to the sponsorships and branding in the world of sport. For the question, if they always had appropriate conditions for the development of sports talent or they had to rely on themselves in
53
reaching sponsorships, they answered quietly similarly. The beginning of their careers
was difficult for all of them and based on the fact that Slovakia does not belong among
the richest countries, they had to look for the sponsors by themselves or relying on the
help of the relatives.
The self-presentation of the athletes’ appeared as an interesting strategy for popular
sports brands, which invest many into the sponsorships of the athletes. Adam Žampa
explained that ´´people who support you, I mean financially, wants to be visible to the
public. They do not only want you to present them; you have to persuade them that you
are worthy of their investments and try to convince them to support you as long as is
possible... ´´(Adam Žampa,29.2.2016). Even though all of the participants are already
sponsored by the famous brands and organizations, which support them, they are aware
of the fact that promotion of themselves is highly interconnected with benefits and their
further career. Andreas Žampa explained that the sponsorship does not have to be necessarily connected with financial support. He said that many of the brands are supplying
him with the sports equipment needed for his sports development which is also the way
to manifest a support (15.3.2016).
There is an immense amount of athletes who are wearing a various sports brands on
their clothes, which can signify the names of sponsors they have. The truth is that many
young athletes through tagging the brands into their post try to reach the sponsorships
and followers, which can be helpful for their further career. Thus, Svitko´s answer on
the question, whether this way is an effective way for young talented people without
financial sources and to reach a new sponsors, and whether he had to do something similar, was that, ´´ I am promoting only those brands which are supplying me or are my
54
official sponsors, but I do remember that I was doing something similar when I was a
kid...actually I was putting a sticker on my motorbike but only because I liked it. I did
not mean to hunt sponsors´´ but on the other hand, he is convinced that ´´this strategy of
reaching new sponsors does not have to be senseless since it can raise the awareness of
the athletes´´(Štefan Svitko, 20.3.2016).
Discussion
The information gathered from the athletes´ interviews was relatively similar to the information in the theoretical part of this paper. Even though athletes are more often relying on themselves in a process of self-presentation, they still try to maintain neutral relationships with the traditional media. As it was mentioned in theoretical part, traditional media have the power to influence the perception of the public and based on the fact
that people still consider a traditional media for one of the sources of information, it is
the necessity for the athletes to have a good relationship with them. Based on the a answers of all three athletes, the answer of the RQ2: What is their relationship towards use
of social media in process of self-presentation and communication with fans, was determined that they use social media frequently and with the special purpose, to present
themselves in way they want to be seen among the followers. All of them also agree
with the fact that a social network is a powerful tool through, which they can establish a
relationship with the fans, which can help them in a process of reaching new followers
but also reach new sponsors and supporters.
V. III. Conclusion of research
Although each of the research methods was focused on the different target group, the
results show that athletes and fans have quite a similar perspective on the consumption
55
of the sports content through social media. Furthermore, the results of the questionnaire
say that the main motivator of the sports consumption in Slovakia is related to the simple interest in the sport while athletes are convinced that people are looking for something different all the time. Therefore, they have to know their followers to surprise
them and reach their interest.
The results related to the self-presentation of the athletes through social media proved
the fact that athletes are presenting only the content they want. The audience is aware of
this type of strategy of building a virtual identity and it lead them to consider information more carefully and do not trust everything which appears at the social accounts
of the athletes.
V.I. Conclusion
The sports, as we know it, today was changing its form and purpose during the hundreds of years. From the process of hunting, through military training to today’s form of
entertainment, it is evident that sports activity and physical education went through immense changes in its consumption and its mediation through various media channels.
As the era of new technologies was evolving, the sport as an entertaining program was
reaching more and more households through traditional media. Nowadays, sport is considered as one of the main forms of entertainment for the mass public, and therefore, it
occupies a huge space in the viral world. Since the emergence of the new media, the
sports content got viral and reached the interest of the huge amount of fans. The internet
did not only provide the easier access to information but also the possibility for athletes
to present themselves. Despite the fact that many athletes got aware of the power of social media, the social media activity has become an inevitable part of one’s self-
56
presentation. The content, which is shared, posted and commented, is creating the athletes´ virtual identity, which can be modified based on the expectations of the public,
which supports the fact that not everything what is published through social media contains trustworthy information.
Under the social media activity is understood mainly a two-way communication between athletes and fans, which is the key aspect of creating a relationship between them.
In order to be successful in the reaching of new followers, athletes should consider the
effective communication strategies, which can be applied to the wider public. The main
reason why athletes are trying to catch the interest of the huge amount of the people is
the fact that the bigger fandom can increase their popularity and the interest of the famous brands, which can become their sponsors.
The fan-athlete relationship is not only efficient and prosperous for athletes, but it is also a very attractive area for marketing strategies and branding. Through this type of relationship created through social media channels, brands found the great opportunity to
use sports public figures to present their products and increase its visibility among the
public.Social media have become a virtual space where the individuals are enabled to
manipulate and influence the perception of the wider audience with the purpose to reach
a greater popularity. To sum it up, the social network has immense power, but it is up to
the people to which extent they will rely on the content which is shared and published
by their role-models or followed public figures.
57
APPENDIX
Questionnaire that was applied to the Slovak consumers of sport.
Q1: About how often do you consume a sport coverage?
0%
13%
DailyorFrequently(basedonthe
sportsevents)
33%
Sometimes
54%
Never(Iamnotinterestedin
sportcoverage)
6% Q2: What is the main source of the sport information for
you?
34%
37%
TraditionalMedia
NewMedia
23%
SocialMedia
PersonalContactwithAthlete
Q3: What type of information related to the sport are you looking for at
mentioned media channels?
0%
22%
24%
17%
17%
20%
Iamlookingforinformationrelatedtothe
competitiononly(etc.results
Iamlookingforinformationaboutathletes´s
performance
Iaminterestedinpersonalstories/information
fromprivatelifeorbehindthesceneinformation
Ijustwanttoseethematch/competitionbecauseI
lovesport
Iwanttoseetheperformanceofmyfavorite
athlete/team
58
Q4: Do you think that traditional media provide an accurate image of the
athletes?
18%
Yes,IamsatisUiedwiththewaymediaportray
athletes
20%
62%
No,Idonottrustthemediacoverage
Q5: Do you follow sport people on Social Media? if yes, which
platforms?
80,43%
56,52%
31%
7,61%
6,52%
Twitter
Facebook Instagram Snapchat
Youtube
Q6: What is the main reason that motivates you to consume sport content?
physicalattractivenessofathletes
27%
7%
Favoriteathleteorteamyouidentifywith
39%
4%
18%
5%
socialinteractionwiththeathletes
informationgathering
interestofbrandsthatarepromotedby
athletes
interestofthesport
59
Q7: How do you observe the identity of the athletes which is presented
through social media platforms?
Everythingathletesshareseemstoberealfor
me
24%
Idonottrustcontentsharedthroughsocial
media
8%
55%
13%
Idonotcarewhotheyare.Iamjustfanof
sport/
Q8: During the both-side interaction between fans and athletes: Would
you say that this type of interaction provides you a feeling of closer
relationship with the athletes?
0%
28%
44%
Yes,IfeelthatIamimportantasafun
No,Idonotfeelthatitwouldemphasize
anypersonalrelationshipbetweenus/
Ihaveneverbeenthinkingaboutitinthis
way
28%
Q9: Would you say that partial disclosure of athlete´s privacy creates a
closer relationship between fans and athletes?
0%
Yes,Iwouldsayso
37%
49%
14%
No,Idonotthinkthatpersonalinformation
oftheathletescanmakearelationship
strongerorevenbetter
Itdependsoftheinformationwhichare
disclosed
60
Q10: How old are you? What is your gender?
61
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