Speak for yourself: analysing how US athletes used self-presentation on Twitter during the 2012 London Paralympic Games

Abstract

This study explored the content US Paralympic athletes posted to Twitter during the 2012 London Paralympic Summer Games. Goffman's (1959) self-presentation concept provided a foundation for describing the Twitter activity of the athletes through frontstage and backstage performances. Data were collected from Twitter accounts of 76 US Paralympic athletes who were on the 2012 US Paralympics Twitter page members list. Four themes were constructed on the Twitter content: backstage performances of: a) self; b) interaction and frontstage performances of: c) Paralympic promotion; d) reporting news. Athletes used Twitter to blur the lines between backstage and frontstage performances, providing glimpses of their private time but also serving as a marketing arm for US Paralympics. The importance of understanding what athletes were tweeting during this time lies in the marketing function they performed due to the lack of US media covering the event.