Sport
Sportsmen and social media
Social media importance in the life of the users’ life is growing everyday. The growth of Instagram, Twitter or Facebook is only making the digital dependence bigger. Today, high level sportsmen use those platforms to keep track of their image and don’t only use the classic media such as television or press.
In fact, social medias let them get closer to their fans and show them a bit more of their private lives.
But is there a limit to this exhibition ?
Every sportsmen, no matter how famous they are, use social media to create themselves a more or less good image. Why ?
The first goal is to establish a positive image of their game, and themselves. They can post a video or a few tweets about their latest achievement. But the advantage of social media does not stop here.
Sportsmen tend to use it to show their different partnerships or sponsors, but users actually want to see more about their favorite player. They want to see them with their kids, or doing other activities.
Athletes want to be appreciated and retain their followers. Because, the number of followers they have can get them a view from famous brands and this way they can end up being their new « muse ».
In fact, the more famous the athlete is, the more his fans are going to want to buy, wear, or use anything that is linked to him.
This is a way for those athletes to create a bond with their fans, because ,usually, they are too focused on their game to actually give them time.
This is why social media is important to them : it allows them to bond with their fans without spending too much time on it.
But overall, fans tend to forget that social media is only a tiny piece of reality. The content their favorites athletes post is usually controlled by their club, manager or even censored by themselves.
They don’t see any interest on showing off their still innocent kids.
The club or manager want to reflect a positive image around their athlete, and can sometimes force him/her to post some things that he/she don’t particularly think.
Some players succeed in getting away from all of that and create their own opinion about it. But some have such a big notoriety that they can’t really post anything they want. They have to be careful about everything they do, and think about the consequences there might be. The image they broadcast must be anticipated, but mustn’t stop the professional athlete’s right of communication.
Year : 25 March, 2020
Marion Viel