HHP - Update me in site_config > General Configuration
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the sports industry in unprecedented ways. Fans were deprived of live sports for months as leagues and games were postponed or canceled.
June 29, 2023
by Ye Lei
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the sports industry in unprecedented ways. Fans were deprived of live sports for months as leagues and games were postponed or canceled. Due to this disruption, the sport industry had to adapt and provide substitute products, such as social media, to engage customers who did not have access to the live sport.
Dr. Gidon Jakar and his colleague conducted a study in which they analyzed social media fan engagement of two popular leagues: the National Basketball Association (NBA) in North America and the English Premier League (EPL) in Europe.
The researchers analyzed the volume and type of tweets and engagements from official team accounts. They looked at several different periods, including before leagues were interrupted and when leagues were restored to full capacity and a regular schedule.
Even though social media has been a main connection tactic for teams to engage fans for many years, findings in this study show that not all teams and leagues employed social media engagement platforms such as Twitter at the same pace.
In addition, the study suggests that engagements are much more changeable than the number of Tweets each team posts, and they may be less related to seasonal periods than important events that fans want to talk about. Specifically, fans are more interested in newsworthy events like player transactions or breaking sports news than in score update Tweets or game recaps.
Sport organizations may use these findings to be more adaptable and innovative in their social media communication.
“As Twitter continues to experience a rapid growth in users, clubs should continue to supply media surrounding player transactions, memoriam Tweets honoring their team’s beloved players, or other transcendent events that fans demand content on.”
***
Read the full article here:
Jakar, G., & Carr, J. (2022). A comparative analysis of social media fan (community) engagement in a European and a North American pro-sport league and their reaction to industry-wide disruptions. American Behavioral Scientist, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642221118269
***
Connect with UF SPM: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter
***