No abstract

People use the various social media very differently. And such activity clearly demonstrates how usage establishes notably differentiated characters and behaviours. This article bases itself on Goffman to apply his theory on people’s self-presentation to the field of social networks and to analyse such behaviour through various examples. Accordingly, we have quantitively and qualitatively investigated social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for 15 people in Germany from three different areas (sports, media/entertainment and politics). Our results allow us to determine clear differences in usage of different social media channels between the groups of people, but also among the sportspersons, above all regarding extent, way used or authenticity. We, therefore, advocate in future discussing multiple social personalities in social media instead of the appearance on it.

Organizations around the globe have numerous avenues to share information with their target groups and communicate directly without any intermediaries such as journalists. Particularly, sports organizations like professional sports teams make frequent use of e-mail newsletters, (online) club TV channels, stadium magazines, and Internet platforms. In addition, they frequently share information using social networks like Twitter and Facebook. Surprisingly, however, very little is known about the factors influencing consumers’ use of these different communication channels. This paper is the first to analyze simultaneously the factors associated with consumers’ use of different public relations (PR) media by using representative data from club members of one of the biggest professional soccer clubs in Germany and employing a multivariate ordered probit model. Results suggest that decisions on the use of different PR media are closely related, though sociodemographic and membership characteristics have a media-specific impact on the frequency of use.

This article examines German print sport journalists’ perceptions, experiences, and relationships with Bundesliga clubs’ public relations (PR) staffers and each club’s designated press spokesperson, as well the impact of a competitive, multitier 21st-century media environment on their jobs. All Bundesliga clubs are now disseminating more multimedia content on their own through official Web sites and social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Meanwhile, the German newspaper industry is in a state of transformation and decreased prominence among mediums in German sport journalism. A survey of print journalists who cover Bundesliga clubs showed that these changes have affected the historic symbiotic relationship between the sporting press and Bundesliga clubs. Power and media autonomy have increased for Bundesliga clubs and their designated press spokespersons, while print reporters are more dependent on the clubs’ PR staffers to provide access. The surveyed journalists recognize the increasing power of television in German sport journalism, but nearly half do not consider this as negative for their jobs. These print sport journalists are called on to find new ways and types of media content to begin restoring the needed balance in a symbiotic relationship between independent press and PR, while also distinguishing their work from televised media content.

This paper examines the usage of Twitter by professional soccer clubs and players in the context of a major sporting event. The study focuses on the UEFA Champions League Final in 2013, which featured two German football clubs. Nearly 300 tweets were coded via eight variables (author, content, date, language, media, mood, person and team). The results reveal considerable differences between the levels of activity and the players' Twitter performance. The clubs accompanied the season highlight in a communicatively extensive manner, but use Twitter in a strongly event-related manner. Concerning the players' activity, a classification into five categories was possible, based upon their overall levels of Twitter use. Numerous differences between each athlete's usage of Twitter were observed.