TY - JOUR
T1 - Points of attachment on social media
T2 - Exploring similarities and differences between Chinese and western national basketball association fans
AU - Li, Bo
AU - Dittmore, Stephen W.
AU - Scott, Olan K.M.
PY - 2017/1/1
Y1 - 2017/1/1
N2 - Given the availability and usage of Twitter, professional sport organizations attempt to embrace this emerging medium to engage with sports fans around the world. While many sports fans use Twitter globally, Chinese sports fans primarily embrace localized social media platforms, such as Weibo, to follow their favourite teams because many international mainstream social media services are banned in China. This study aimed to investigate the similarities and differences between Chinese National Basketball Association (NBA) fans and Western NBA fans in terms of their social media usage and points of attachment to a team with a global presence. The results revealed that Chinese digital NBA fans expressed higher dependence on using social media in their daily life compared to Western counterparts. In terms of sports fans’ points of attachment, Chinese NBA fans had higher associations with basketball, NBA players, and the NBA than Western counterparts, while Western fans perceived a higher attachment to the team.
AB - Given the availability and usage of Twitter, professional sport organizations attempt to embrace this emerging medium to engage with sports fans around the world. While many sports fans use Twitter globally, Chinese sports fans primarily embrace localized social media platforms, such as Weibo, to follow their favourite teams because many international mainstream social media services are banned in China. This study aimed to investigate the similarities and differences between Chinese National Basketball Association (NBA) fans and Western NBA fans in terms of their social media usage and points of attachment to a team with a global presence. The results revealed that Chinese digital NBA fans expressed higher dependence on using social media in their daily life compared to Western counterparts. In terms of sports fans’ points of attachment, Chinese NBA fans had higher associations with basketball, NBA players, and the NBA than Western counterparts, while Western fans perceived a higher attachment to the team.
KW - Chinese sports fans
KW - Points of attachment
KW - Social media usage
KW - Twitter
KW - Weibo
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040132031&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/21640599.2017.1304503
DO - 10.1080/21640599.2017.1304503
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85040132031
SN - 2164-0599
VL - 6
SP - 201
EP - 215
JO - Asia Pacific Journal of Sport and Social Science
JF - Asia Pacific Journal of Sport and Social Science
IS - 3
ER -