Social network in sports events: a process study of the 30th Summer Universiade

Our research aimed at understanding the process through which a Social Media team communicated a sports event through the main Social Networks (SNs). In last years, SNs have assumed great importance in all industries, included sports events where their role is expected to become even more crucial in the next future. In this regard, the event industry has been heavily impacted by Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Many international sports events (e.g., the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games) have been postponed and only a few number of events (e.g., the UEFA Champions League) have taken place, albeit without spectators. As long the entire population is vaccinated and the emergency over, SNs are likely to play a key role to maintain a connection with the general public and limit the financial losses for sports industry. Based on this premise, the in-depth understanding of the communication through SNs - how different SNs dialogued with each other and contributed to the overall event narrative- is today a priority for sports event promoters and organizers. To this end, we have conducted a process study on a multi-sports international event to understand the pattern of activities and choices through which digital communication unfolded over time. Although data collection was prior to the epidemiological emergency, this study offered general insights into the development of a digital communication process in international professional sporting events. Specifically, it provided with a new vision of the process of communication through SNs, which resulted to be accomplished as an ongoing pragmatic compromise. SM team members strived to find a balance between the SNs plan and the users generated contents. At the same time, they were careful to interpret whether and how the ongoing interactions with the environment affected the desired narrative of the sports event. We found that some team's capacities were crucial in processing communication flow and making sense of bottom-up and external pressures. These encompassed the no ego approach of team members, along with their ability to improvise, generate collectively novel ideas and learn consciously. This study also showed the importance for communication through SNs to take into account cross-cultural differences in international sports events. This referred to respect different values, beliefs, religions, etc. but also to encourage the participation and involvement of athletes and spectators from countries that were less familiar with the SNs.