Space for self-expression: communication of Czech female athletes on social media and fansʼ reactions

Kateřina Turková,Veronika Macková,Alice Němcová Tejkalová

doi:10.14712/23366052.2021.10

Abstract

Social media platforms allow athletes to share information with the public. This opportunity is arguably more important for female athletes who traditionally receive less space in the mainstream media than their male counterparts. This article focuses on the social media self-presentation of six successful, internationally recognized, professional Czech female athletes and their fans’ reactions. By using qualitative and quantitative content analyses, it was revealed that throughout the season, the selected athletes presented themselves as powerful professionals, while their off-season posting tended to be more personal and, for the most part, more feminine. Contrary to previous research, fans did not frequently respond with explicitly sexual or negative comments. Moreover, they supported and admired the athletes, and in most cases, reacted positively. A higher sensitivity was indicated in relation to the sportswomen’s personal relationships and opinions. This leads us to the conclusion that social media enables professional female athletes to present themselves more freely than traditional media and be positively received by the public.

Highlights

It has been noted that traditional media gives more coverage to male athletes ( Jakubowska, 2015; Vann, 2014)
To characterize female athletes’ communication on social media, the official Facebook pages of six professional Czech female athletes were chosen for analysis
The following main research questions were formulated: RQ1: How do the professional Czech female athletes present themselves on their official Facebook pages? RQ2: What are the fan reactions to posts which are published on the official Facebook pages of the selected professional Czech female athletes? At first, we focused on the topic of athletes’ posts, deciding whether each post was sports-oriented or covered diverse areas

Summary

Introduction

It has been noted that traditional media gives more coverage to male athletes ( Jakubowska, 2015; Vann, 2014). Female athletes have the opportunity to “balance the force ratio” by using social media and share their content directly with their audience, without journalists. Social media provides a platform for promoting athletic achievements and personal opinions and sharing the pieces of (private) everyday life that athletes themselves want to show to the public. This “exclusive” social media content is commonly sought and appreciated by fans, who often react positively to the athletes’ posts (Bruce, 2016; Smith & Sanderson, 2015)

Objectives

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Conclusion