Concurrently, findings were replicated by another study on tennis players, whereby high twitter usage impacted performance during a match.Įncel et al (2017) analysed the facebook usage prior to, during and following competitions for over 290 athletes of varying levels.
In other words, as social media frequency increased, the footballers performance decreased. Results from a study on the National Football League (NFL), showed that there was a negative relationship between posting frequency on social media and performance (Lim et al, 2020). However, social media can be incredibly distracting, including negative messages and sponsorship pressures, all of which may negatively impact an athlete’s performance. In turn, by doing so, athletes are more likely to receive sponsorships, greater salaries as well as experience an easier career transition out of sport (Aria et al, 2014). Athletes are facing demand to provide frequent and personal information on various social media platforms (Hayes et al, 2020). In today’s world, being a professional athlete includes more than being at the top 1% of the sport. W omen having the ability to take control of their images via social media is a crucial step in creating more positive role models for young girls.
