Managing the COVID-19 Crisis Through Social Media: An Analysis From Sports Organizations Perspective

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted directly on sports competitions, redirecting strategies to adapt to changes and giving prominence to a new ally: social media. The objective of this research is to analyze how top-level sports organizations managed their social media in pre-pandemic (from April 1 to 14, 2019) and pandemic (from April 1 to 14, 2020) periods. This study is based on the design and implementation of an observation instrument, applied to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posts. A total of 5,512 posts from LaLiga (LL), ACB League (ACB), UEFA Champions League (UCL), Euroleague (EL), and NBA League (NBA) have been analyzed. The results show a slight decrease in the total frequency of posts between both periods, but with a more homogeneous distribution over the days. Sports organizations adopted different approaches while posting on social media during these two periods. At the beginning of the pandemic, they prioritized “Social initiatives” and “Engagement” categories while their format preferences have generally migrated from text and image to audio-visual resources during the pandemic.