Research
“Tweeting from the Endzone: NFL Players and the Twitter Revolution.”
My master’s thesis considers how athletes in the National Football League build social capital by using the social network site Twitter. The National Football League (NFL) is the most popular and powerful sports league in the United States, and perhaps the world. By proxy, NFL athletes are some of the most recognizable, marketable and popular among American sports stars. As their status among celebrities has risen, so has the crafting of their messages and their brand. Twitter, a popular microblogging service, offers these powerful and well-known athletes in the NFL an efficient means to promote their brand and to communicate with fans, other athletes and celebrities and the world at large. This study uses social capital theory to examine the ways in which Twitter creates new relationships between athletes and fans. I apply Nan Lin’s (2001) work on the ways in which individuals access resources through social networks, to the ways in which athletes use Twitter for their own gain. In this sense, athletes can be described not as producers or receivers of information, but “interactors” (Perlmutter, 2008) who use social networks like Twitter to cultivate their image, which must be performed and maintained through interactions with fans.
Conference Presentations
“‘Let ‘em Talk Until the Truth Flows’: Errol Morris and the Art of Silence.” Midwest Popular Culture Association Conference. Milwaukee, WI. October 2011.
“Anatomy of the Nuclear Meme.” Association of Internet Researchers Conference. Seattle, WA. October 2011.
“NFL Players and Twitter: How Do They Use it and What Does it Mean?” Association of Internet Researchers Conference. Gothenburg, Sweden. October 2010.
“Use and Meaning in Korean Color Terms: A Contrastive Approach.” Practical Criticism Midwest XVII. Muncie, IN February 2006.
“GoldenEye and Goldfingers: The Sexual Innuendo Of James Bond.” Practical Criticism Midwest XV. Muncie, IN. February 2004.
“An Analysis of Laugh, Chortle, Guffaw, Chuckle, Giggle, and Snicker.” Practical Criticism Midwest XIII. February 2003.