Abstract
This research examines the use of Facebook and Twitter, two social networks, for sportive reasons in Turkey.To this end, the literature was surveyed and a 5 Likert type data collection tool consisting of 21 questions was developed by the researcher based on the expert views. The sample of the research included 460 sport fans who are college students at Abant İzzet Baysal University and Sakarya University.It was found in the research that 91.7% of the participants had a profile on Facebook and 13.3% had a profile on Twitter. The rate of opening an account on Twitter, which still has no version in Turkish language, was low. It was found that the fans mostly followed the official site of their favorite team on Facebook, got informed about the sports activities through Facebook and learned news, which they did not hear from other sources. It was also ascertained that male fans used social networks for sportive reasons more than female fans did (p<.05).It is possible to state that social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have become a rapidly-developing alternative medium in sports against traditional media such as newspaper and television.
Highlights
The Internet, which was introduced into people’s lives within the last 20 years, has changed the mass communication media radically
The analysis suggests that social-media sites are valuable public relations tools that athletes can use to quickly generate support that counteracts perceived negative media framing
Personal Information 46.5% of 420 college student fans, the samples of the research, are female while 53.5% are male. 78.5% of the participants study at Abant İzzet Baysal University while 21.5% study at Sakarya University. 48.9% of the students study at School of Physical Education and Sport and the others study at different departments (27.4% at Faculty of Education, 14.1% at Bolu Vocational School and 9.6% at Faculty of Arts and Science). 35% of the participants are freshmen, 27.2% are sophomores, 20% are juniors and 17.8% are seniors
Summary
The Internet, which was introduced into people’s lives within the last 20 years, has changed the mass communication media radically. As Internet has become widespread, personal and institutional web pages (Web 1.0) have shared the effectiveness of classical mass media tools such as newspaper and television. Social media, which are called Web 2.0 applications, emerged at the early 2000s and have become an alternative to classical media by spreading rapidly. Social media are a rising phenomenon and can be defined as "relating to the sharing of information, experiences and perspectives through community-oriented websites". The incomparable to the classical mass communication tools. While radio reached 50 million users after 38 years, TV reached this number of users in 13 years. Facebook accrued 100 million users in the first nine months
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