Why Young People use Social Media for Sports: A Uses and Gratifications Perspective

Background/Objectives: This study examined characteristics and trends in the ways college students utilize social media for college athletics. Methods/Statistical Analysis: An online survey was conducted at a Southwestern University. A total of 468 college students responded to the online survey. 391 valid survey responses were used to analyze the data. Findings: The results of this study suggested four motivations - entertainment, information seeking, social interaction and surveillance - for using social media of college athletics. Thus, information seeking and social interaction motivations, both motivations for using social media for college athletics, were related positively to gratification of social media use for college athletics. Younger users of social media for college athletics were more likely to use Facebook to gather college athletics information. In addition, Twitter users have higher channel loyalty in sports communication than do Facebook users. Application/Improvements: This study may contribute to understanding motivations and uses of social media in sports communication.