The importance of social media and user-generated content in the relationship between football clubs in Europe and their fans

Abstract

This dissertation examines the rise of social media and its emergence into sports, particularly football. It deals with the specific example of Cristiano Ronaldo to show the way players themselves have become brands through the use of social media. The literature delves into the social, cultural and economic effects of social media in sports. It also observes the different types of social media clubs use and how it affects real-life engagement with the fans. More importantly, the dissertation looks into the comparison between Maltese club, Valletta FC and English club, Salford City FC. Looking at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, I aim to confirm the hypotheses : “Good social media presence helps the club-fan relationship” and “Video generates the most engagement from fans in club page content”. The study brings out all of this through a content analysis of both clubs’ pages on the three social media networks mentioned above.