This case study investigated athletes’ use of a specific social-media platform—Twitter. Social media are a rising force in marketing and have been fully embraced by the sport industry, with teams, leagues, coaches, athletes, and managers establishing presences. Primarily these presences have been focused on Twitter, a microblogging site that allows users to post their personal thoughts in 140 characters or less. Athletes, in particular, have engaged in tweeting at a fast pace, which raises the question, What are they saying? This case study investigated the tweets of athletes over a 7-d period in an attempt to answer that question. The findings indicate that athletes are talking predominantly about their personal lives and responding to fans’ queries through Twitter. The results indicate that Twitter is a powerful tool for increasing fan–athlete interaction.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the Facebook narrative surrounding Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe’s activism as crafted through user comments on their respective public Facebook pages following the athletes’ protests during the national anthem. A total of 85,649 users’ comments were collected and analyzed within the context of framing. The themes emerging from the data suggested a strong nationalistic narrative, with some accompanying narratives addressing the issues Kaepernick and Rapinoe desired to highlight through their activism. The nationalistic frames discussed what constituted American values and the consequences for not conforming to those values. The non-nationalistic themes targeted the social issues related to the two athletes. In terms of differences between the two athletes, users attacked Kaepernick’s specific characteristics (i.e., race and sex), while Rapinoe’s data contained discussions surrounding the role of athletes. Implications of these findings will be discussed further.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and measure the construct of fan engagement through social networking sites (SNS). Design/methodology/approach A multi-stage procedure was completed to validate the proposed fan engagement through SNS model with three first-order constructs (fan-to-fan relationships, team-to-fan relationships and fan co-creation). First, a preliminary analysis of the proposed items to capture fan engagement through SNS was conducted through expert review. Second, an assessment of item reliability and construct validity was completed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Finally, CFA and subsequent structural equation model were conducted to review the psychometric properties and to test the relationships between the proposed construct with online and offline behavioural intentions. Findings The results indicate good psychometric properties of the constructs of fan-to-fan relationships, team-to-fan relationships and fan co-creation, and these three constructs were significantly related with the second-order construct of fan engagement through SNS. Additionally, the construct of fan engagement through SNS was significantly related to both online and offline behavioural intentions. Practical implications These findings suggest that teams should use SNS to interact with fans, to allow fans to share experiences and to involve fans in co-creation processes aimed at increasing engagement and subsequent positive behavioural intentions towards the team. Originality/value This study extends previous research by measuring fan engagement through SNS as a multidimensional construct, and testing its predictive effect on fans’ online and offline behavioural intentions. Several suggestions for future studies and strategies for increasing fan engagement can be drawn from this study.

Although social media has been increasingly noted as an outlet for athletes to openly address social issues, there has been very little systematic examination on the organizational capacity of social media. To address this, our study seeks to focus on the strike organized by the football players through Twitter at the University of Missouri in 2015. Specifically, it adopts the theoretical framework of resource mobilization and conducts a comprehensive analysis composed of two parts. First, by identifying geographic characteristics and participant groups for #ConcernedStudent1950, it seeks to reveal the mobilization scope and impact. Second, a social network analysis is used to delineate the organizational dynamics of the players’ protest networks. The results yield both theoretical and practical implications for athletes’ engagement in social activism in the digital era.

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