The New Window to Athletes’ Soul – What Social Media Tells Us About Athletes’ Performances

Abstract

Professional sports has evolved from a game to an organization that has been codified, strategized, and commercialized. One factor that is shaping the sports industry is the pervasiveness of social media. On the one hand, social media is used as a powerful medium for distributing and getting news, engaging in topical discussions, and empowering brands. On the other hand, social media has become a crucial mouthpiece for athletes to interact with peers, share opinions, thoughts, and feelings. However, millions of followers, tweets, and likes later, researchers, practitioners, and athletes alike ask whether social media has an impact on an athlete’s performance. We conducted a social media usage and a sentiment analysis of 124,341 Twitter tweets extracted from 31 tennis athletes. We linked these data to 8,095 corresponding match day performances. The results show that high social media usage has a significant negative impact on athletes’ performance.