Call for Papers | “Contemporary Issues in Social Media in Sport” | Special issue of International Journal of Sport Communication. Call ends 2018-01-15

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Guest Editors:

  • Gashaw Abeza, Southern Methodist University
  • Norm O’Reilly, Ohio University
  • Benoit Seguin, University of Ottawa

Over the past decade, social media platforms’ use has reached new heights as the once nascent media have quickly expanded in scope, gaining access to actors in novel ways. During this period, the magnitude, range, and extent of the use of social media has been significant in the global sporting culture. Most key players of the sport industry, whether they be athletes, teams, sport governing bodies, leagues, managers, coaches, fans, sponsors, or events, are now verified account holders across not one but multiple platforms. With social media’s increasing presence, a developing body of work in sport studies has highlighted its complex interrelationship with the sport industry. Thus, following a decade of social media scholarship in sport studies, this is a call for papers on “Contemporary Issues in Social Media in Sport” for a special edition of the IJSC.

With a goal of enhancing our understanding of social media in the context of sport, the specific aim of the special issue is to increase our knowledge of social media through conceptual, behavioral, empirical, and managerial work studying the role and impact of social media in sport from consumers, platforms, and organizations perspective. Specific themes that are sought for the special issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

Content centered topics: Social media (in sport) and

    • its use by athletes, coaches, teams, leagues, events and sport governing bodies
    • characteristics of its users/consumers/audiences and dimensions of use
    • sponsorship, sponsorship activation, ambush marketing, endorsement
    • branding, brand creation, brand development/ building, re-branding
    • relationship marketing as a theoretical and managerial framework
    • best practices in content production and/or marketing, revenue generation, ROI
    • its role in and impact on sport media, journalism, online broadcast
    • diversity such as race, religion, gender/ sexual orientation, economic status, abilities
    • legal issues

Method focused topics:

    • data mining software programs and their use
    • data analytics software programs and their use

Scholarship oriented topics:

    • theoretical developments, frameworks and conceptual models on social media in sport
    • critical review of the literature
    • delphi study of the scholarship
    • typology of social media users, and the platforms (text, audio file, photo, or video based)

Contexts can be:

    • Consumers/Fans
    • Professional sport
    • College sport
    • Olympic sport
    • Participatory sport
    • Community sport

Deadline for submissions: January 15, 2018. Publication Issue: Volume 11, Issue 3 – September 2018. Submissions can be to any of the following sections of the journal:

    • scholarly commentaries
    • student/professor research articles
    • full research articles
    • case studies.

Please reach out to Drs. Gashaw Abeza, Norm O’Reilly, and Benoit Seguin – the guest editors of this special issue – at gabeza@smu.edu, oreillyn@ohio.edu, and bseguin@uottawa.ca with any questions regarding the special issue. To submit a manuscript, however, please go through the regular submission steps found at the IJSC website (please see link below). In the cover letter to the IJSC editor (Paul M. Pedersen, Ph.D., Indiana University), simply note that the submission is for the Contemporary Issues in Social Media in Sport special issue.

Submission Guidelines: http://journals.humankinetics.com/page/authors/ijsc

IJSC website: http://journals.humankinetics.com/journal/ijsc

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