Uneak White's Personal Brand Exploration Presentation
Being sociable on social media
1. #passion4digital
Being sociable on social media
A case study of Salford FC
Alex Fenton
www.alexfenton.co.uk
a.fenton@salford.ac.uk
@alexfenton
2. #passion4digital 2
“Creating the world’s first
digital, ‘always on’ football
club, giving fans unrivalled
access to behind-the-scenes
activities and up-to-the-
minute information about
Salford City’s ongoing
development.”
(Mirror, 2014)
Case study – Salford City FC
5. #passion4digital 5
“You can have as many followers as you like on social media, but if you are not
talking to them or vice versa, then the value of these numbers can be
questioned. We want to understand more about our audience, why are they
following us, where do they live, what do they want to see from us on social
media, how do we make sure that they keep following, keep coming back, keep
communicating. Once we understand the people following us, that's where
value can be realised for all.”
Salford FC
10. #passion4digital
Qualitative Data Collection
10
• Interviews with fans, people with a connection to Salford City FC,
football & digital
• Participant observation – Twitter, Facebook and other websites
• Social Network Analysis - using social media data to identify key
people,connections & boundary
11. #passion4digital
Interviews
11
Participant ID Role
P1 Football Social Media Officer, non league
P2 Football Webmaster, non league
P3 Football club Project Manager, non league
P4 Director of Communication, Championship football club
P5 FA communications official
P6 Football fan
P7 Football Fan & social media volunteer, non league
P8 SCFC follower
P9 SCFC Follower from India
P10 Head of Communications football club, non league
P11 Football journalist and academic
P12 Football Fan / forum user
P13 Football Fan and photographer
P14 Football social media officer
P15 Social Media expert and football fan
P16 MD and Social Media expert
P17 CEO of Digital Sports Communications company
P18 Football social media officer
P19 SCFC Fan from Venice, Italy
P20 SCFC Follower from Florida, USA
P21 SCFC Follower from Russia
P22 SCFC Owner
12. #passion4digital
Social Capital
12
“Despite a number of differing definitions, social capital is typically
seen as a positive effect stemming from the interaction between
individuals in a social network.” (Helliwell & Putnam, 2004).
13. #passion4digital
Social Capital Types
13
• Bonding - “links among people who are similar in ethnicity, age,
social class, etc.” (Helliwell and Putnam, 2004, p.1437)
• Bridging - “links that cut across various lines of social cleavage”
(Helliwell and Putnam, 2004, p.1437) distant ties such as loose
friendships and workmates (Woolcock, 2001)
• Linking - “Reaching out to unlike people in dissimilar situations”
to “leverage a far wider range of resources than are available
within the community” (Woolcock, 2001)
17. #passion4digital
The 1% rule of Internet culture
17
Proportion of lurkers, contributors and creators under the 90–9–1 principle
By Life of Riley [CC BY-SA 3.0 Creative Commons]
18. #passion4digital 18
Social capital type Internet user types Persona Type
Bonding Creators Core
Bridging Contributors Current
Linking Lurkers Follower