DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT AND SOCIAL IDENTITY OF SPORTS FANS: THE CASE OF PREMIER LEAGUE TEAMS ON FACEBOOK

This article examines digital engagement of sports fans in digital social networks as an expression of their social identity. The observation is of Facebook fan pages of the Premier league teams, the professional English football league. Analysis of these fan pages showed that the number of fans var...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Dagoberto Herrera, Gabriel Valerio, Lucía Rodríguez-Aceves
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:México
Institución:Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey
Repositorio:Redalyc-ITESM
OAI Identifier:oai:redalyc.org:311153534006
Acceso en línea:https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=311153534006
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Psicología
Facebook
Premier League
Sports fan engagement
social identity theory
social networking sites
Descripción
Sumario:This article examines digital engagement of sports fans in digital social networks as an expression of their social identity. The observation is of Facebook fan pages of the Premier league teams, the professional English football league. Analysis of these fan pages showed that the number of fans varies significantly from one team to another. Such differences may be associated with a team’s historical performance. Analysis of comments revealed significant differences in the magnitude, compo sition, and attitude of fans’ digital engagement, depending on whether the matches resulted in victories, ties or losses. This differentiated reaction can be associated with concepts of social identity theory, such as basking in reflected glory (BIRGing) and cutting off reflected failure (CORFing), which suggests that the degree to which fans connect with their teams depends on the team’s performance.