Agenda of Sports Press on X: An International Examination

Abstract

This research aimed to determine the relationship between content production and Olympic success by examining the dynamics of the sports press on the X platform. The February 2024 content from the top three most-followed X sports press accounts in Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Türkiye, and USA was analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. According to the findings, Türkiye and Great Britain were ahead in daily average content production, while the USA and Germany were the countries that produced the least content. In terms of discipline diversity, while publishers in Spain produced content in 32 different disciplines, this number was 14 in Turkey and the USA. While American football was the most featured discipline in the USA, soccer content was more prevalent in European countries. Content from USA publishers was balanced between Olympic and non-Olympic disciplines (x̄=48-52%). However, in European countries, influenced by soccer, content on Olympic disciplines was significantly higher (x̄=81-97%). These proportions showed a significant and strong positive correlation with the countries’ overall medal rankings in the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, as well as their rankings in the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Summer Games. Additionally, the proportion of soccer content showed a positive correlation with the overall medal rankings in Summer and Winter Olympics, as well as with the success rankings in the Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022, and Paris 2024 Olympics.

Keywords

• Social media
• Sports press
• soccer
• Olympic success

Kaynakça

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