How Social Media has Evolved Player and Fan Engagement.

Social media plays a larger role than ever in the lives of sports fans around the world.  Since social medias inititial break out in the early 2000’s its reach and engagement benefits between millions has soared higher than ever exptected. This rise in social media fandom in sport has given footballers and fans alike the perfect opportunity to keep in a constant loop and feel connected to their favourite footballers and feel closer to player than ever before.

Recent social media studies have shown that nearly twice as many users tend to use Facebook compared to Twitter, at 73% to 37%. But when it turns to football game days, the vast majority turn to Twitter 1.5 times as often as they do Facebook.

Social media has opened up a new world of options for fans and players alike to choose just how involved and how close they want to get and feel with their fans or stars on social media. In these articles they will discuss the rise of social media and how players and fans have embraced each other and how it has changed the sporting media world and the way they communicate for ever.

The History of Social Media & the rise of social media engagement

Now internet forums and polls now allow football fans the opportunity to comment on players posts and give their unfiltered opinions and platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have only increased fan and player interactivity. The fact is that if a fan is following a club on social media, it’s a connection. The interpersonal connection grows as the club grows. Social platforms allow the fans to interact and communicate with the club.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even YouTube are creating more fans now more than ever before as its opening fans up to a collection of content provided by players and football clubs on demand. Social media is now used by fans to communicate with people who are already connected by social networks that share the same mind-set and same interest in players, clubs.

Experts couldn’t have predicted the acceleration of popularity that social media has had in sports, until now. Glenn Miller is a leading world expert on how sports teams can engage with their fans via using social media as well as being Facebooks Sport and Entertainment executive. He recently stated to IFA’s conference of football and social media that in a recent study that of the 1.3 Billion people on Facebook, 500 million are supposed “hard-core football fans”.

Glenn Miller football engagement video.

The majority of sporting fans participate with social media sites because of their affinity with their favourite athlete. One of Pegora’s many theories included studying athletes use of Twitter, and both studies found that the majority tweets were interacting with other users, including fans, which is in line with Ruggerio who asserted that individuals use social media to interact with other users and keep in touch with the larger world.

Toney is correct in his comments, as football fans can now go to any social medium or online football forums to give their undivided opinion on their joy, or disgust of a player’s performance. Given these facts it is showing that interactivity amongst fans and players is now at an all time time highest since it all began years ago. Previous studies have also illustrated that Twitter represents just yet another forum in which fans can associate with teams and interact with their favourite clubs and players, providing all fans with what they crave, information and interactivity.

How close do the fans feel to their stars? 

In this day and age social media is now a go to if you want to attempt to try and communicate with your favourite sports stars. Social media marketers and sport journalists could never have predicted how hugely important the internet has been with opening up a line of communication between sports stars and their fans. Football stars are well followed celebrities in their own right and many of them tend to use twitter and Instagram as a remote mobile press conference after each and every game, praising wins and apologizing for individual errors that ultimately lead to losses. But there are exceptions of football stars that really excel at using Twitter. These standout players allow some teams fan base to engage interpersonally with their favourite football players.

Through witnessing and analysing one of Chelsea Football Club football player’s reactions and output to their fans via social media after their games and in the build up to it, I am hoping to gain a series of mixed of reactions from player’s social media fan base. Football stars have been known many times in the past for not acknowledging their fans and simply having football media agents provide the bare minimum of content to their online fans. But there have been exceptions in recent years with some of the more youthful upcoming stars in top flight football excelling their expectations when it comes to connecting with their fans. Some would say its their youthfulness that allows them to connect with their fans with ease in a more modern age of football. Social media has a huge role to play commercially, and football players are starting to really get a grips with the seemingly limitless potential of communication that social media platforms offer.

After Michy Batshuayi scored two very late goals to help Chelsea beat Watford in the premier league, the striker turned to Twitter. Through using the quote tweet feature he re posted a tweet by Chelsea fan twitter user saying “I’ll eat my sh*t if Michy Batshuayi wins us this game,” the tweet read. Michy responded in fantastic form by simply retweeting saying “Bon appetite” subsequently using poop emoji’s.

His social media heroics just keeps the football fans eagerly awaiting his next tweet, as he seems to be breaking the boring stereotype that football players have received in recent years by simply writing what the fans want to hear. His unfiltered opinion is a breath of fresh air for all football fans alike. As shown here on his twitter page during Chelsea’s mammoth match against football heavyweight Barcelona, he lets his emotion run wild and gives his opinion just as we would as spectators and fans alike.

Social media is helping to evolve football

I spoke to a group of football fans in the South West and asked them how social media allowed them to stay connected with their choice of premier league football club despite the distance from the majority of fans premier league major sides.

Siapera agreed with this saying that in many ways, the new social formation ushered in by the new media has provided us with marked improvements in the processes of production and consumption. Of course what happens on the field is what makes sport so important to fans. The intense rivalries the lengthy discussions the banter and jokes back and forth between the players and fans. Football and social media are perfectly placed to help compliment each other.

As more and more football stars start to become more digitally capable and fully aware of how social media will continue to enlarge as a way to connect more directly with their fans. Dalton said that football clubs and players alike have taken to releasing club news on transfers and policies on social media and twitter as it gains a better reach to fans.

“The internet and all WWW platforms are social because they are structures that objectify human interests, understandings, goals and intentions, have certain functions in society and effect social behavior.” (Boyle, 2006:43)

Studies have previously shown again and again that sports fans don’t simply want to read or hear about posts from pro footballers. They want to be involved and be integrated into the world of social media be it by commenting and giving their opinion on a certain topic. This has been shown by the hugely successful shows and podcasts on 5 live news and fan driven radio shows that has proven the power of fan interaction.

The Rise of Social Media

Sport and social media have been entwined since the latter came into existence a matter of years ago. A huge proportion of online sport fandom is talking and communicating with fans about the game that you love, and social media now gives sports fans 24/7 medium and opportunities for discussion and communication with their chosen sports athlete.

Pedersen had a similar opinion explain how social media allows the connection of players and fans and connects people from all over the world connected by a common shared interest in communicating with their favourite football stars.

“Over the past 20 years, sport organizations have enjoyed tremendous growth in popularity thanks to expanding media coverage in magazines, 24 hour sports and radio coverage, and the internet.”

The self named ‘twitter sphere’ is a constant platform of communication that is ignited every match day. Videos of the most popular events of interest during the game are flooded onto Facebook and social media positive or negative attention alike. On digital platforms on social media it allows people to connect people to allow a mass network of voices all at one time, all with varying opinions. Almost every football related event has a hashtag associated with It and it is displayed, on screen, during the event. It drives its fan engagement and creates a relationship with the audience that had not been possible several years ago.

McLaren of digital sport recently said that the facts show that social media means that the individual can interact with the football club player, or other fans, which can help develop a stronger connection with the club. Social media sports forums and fan podcasts have all greatly helped develop the quench of thirst for interactivity that sports fans have obviously wanted for so long.

I spoke to two experienced sports journalists that work in the media teams of premier league clubs Huddersfield Town Football Club and West Bromwich Albion football club to get their professional opinions on how they feel social media allows football players to have a more interpersonal connection with their fans.

Through interviewing club media officers and sports journalists based at a range of different club levels throughout the premier league, I attained a larger opinion of how club social media officers thinks social media offers a new way for clubs, players, and fans to communicate.

The Pros and Cons of Football players being on social media

Pros:

Tye explained that most believe that social media can do nothing but good for player and fan engagement in football and that it takes “player power” to a whole new level of. It allows players fan bases to grow and become more personally connected with their fans. Saying that social media gives players the chance to build their own image to their fans. Fuchs feels that web platforms that enable the social networking of people, bring people together and mediate feelings of virtual togetherness are social.  East also agreed saying that Twitter opens up a line of communication and conversation with players that no other form of social media currently offers.

East expressed that social media gives fans the chance to feel close to your idol sports stars and the players they look up to on a daily basis. Tye insists that players with huge fan bases are like a brand on social media and that they need to be regularly active with promoting themselves and the club. Disputing that with the mass amounts of money that has been put into football, fans felt like they were almost totally disconnected from the sport. But that social media is a fast way to connect players and fans together again.

I spoke to Exeter football club’s media officer Simon Larkin about the positive and negatives aspects that social media brings between football players and fans.

Cons:

Trolls are a massive hindrance on social media, threatening footballers on social media has become a major problem since the emerging platform that social media has offered. In recent times threats made to footballers from fans has become all to familiar and has become the norm. What effects does social media have on footballers? A question that is constantly thrown about. As consumers we are all too familiar with the images and messages that footballers produce on a weekly basis, whether it be celebrations after a victory, or a more positive message after a defeat, or of hard work, dedication and practice out on the training pitch or gym.

It has started to drastically hinder emerging younger stars from wanting to use social media to communicate with their fans due to the fears of being verbally abused or “trolled” online. Overall social media is a double edged sword for football in general, fragile players with low self a steam will no doubt suffer at the hands of vociferous football fans that just want to vent their obvious frustration after a loss.

East insisted that criticism is just simply part of the game and players have to simply get up and get on with it, as negative comments are just a second away with social media nowadays. Even ex premier league Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has previously stated in the past that “We are concerned about sites such as Twitter. It is important to keep that all under control”.  This alone shows that social media abuse can cause problems on both ends of the spectrum. Unfortunately, in the modern game we also have football players such as Victor Anichebe, who cannot even be bothered to type their own messages. Or in his case, just copy and paste what they are told to tweet from their football agent.

Social media adds just another level of pressure onto football stars to perform and adds to the already heavy load of expectations on players. Recently Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren revealed that he has experienced death threats coming from Instagram. This has left him wanting to refrain from using social media entirely, thus effecting his fan base massively. Although this is not the first case of a footballer deactivating their social media accounts entirely due to criticism. East agreed saying it was a down side of the game but that criticism is simply part of the game whether it be on the field or on social media.

League Two Exeter City Footballer player Lee Holmes recently came out and spoke about why he doesnt use social media, and exaplains his reasons behind his decision, due to constant abuse from fans on social platforms. Watch the video here..

Similar incidents have again reoccurred with recent examples of Chelsea loanee Michy Batshuayi having racial abuse hurled at him on and off the field from a rival team. But he turned the tables and used his online stature and popularity to expose the racists that were verbally abusing and trolling him via personal message on twitter. He recently said that he didn’t want to disengage from social media as he loves the ability to joke around and be able to have an open line of communication with his loyal online fan base.

To conclude, as mentioned in the articles social platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, has gathered a huge popularity since its inception and how it has adapted and evolved the way in which football engagement is to this current day. The interviews with industry experienced sports journalists were very useful in supporting my choice of study topic. My interviews thoroughly helped with supporting my topic and through interviewing these experienced journalists, it allowed me gage a more insightful view of how football clubs and players approach and attitude towards communicating with fans on social media platforms.

All the information and opinions I have collected for this study have shown what effects social media as a tool has had on the football industry, the good and the bad.  Coming to a conclusion it shows that football trends and changes and updates in social platforms is forever changing the way in which fans and players are able to engage and communicate with each other. The positives certainly you would think outweigh the negatives as evidence over the years has shown quite clearly the way in which social media has helped players and fans form a relationship that was never available before with more traditional media.

After great analysis of my topic the negative views of social media in football have been a blessing in disguise. Fans bases on the up and fans are now able to feel closer than ever to their clubs and players at the touch of a button. Inevitably there will always be a downside, but more good has come than harm in the way that football communication between fans is evolving, and can only be for the good.