Influence of content type on parasocial relationship with sport athletes on social media

The concept of parasocial relationship (PSR) explains the relationship between media users and media characters. Although media research has shown that traditional media coverage of celebrities, like athletes, can influence PSR, only few research has focused on content in new media. The use of social media sites (SNS) as part of an athlete’s media presence has increased significantly in the past couple years. The present thesis seeks to examine how frequency of media usage and how content type (entertainment versus commercial) published by the athlete can influence the PSR. To use new media means also to understand how it functions, that is why this study looks also if new media literacy (NML) has moderating effects. Online survey research was conducted with 94 individuals that follow athletes on social media. Analysis revealed that high frequency of social media usage alone does not predict PSR. Instead, level of active involvement with content in social media predicted PSR. Furthermore, neither the frequency of looking at purely entertainment nor persuasive content specifically influenced PSR, however, the frequency of looking at sponsored content (i.e., content with subtle product placement) did. Lastly the new media literacy (NML) of a user showed no moderation effect on any of the independent variables-PSR causal relationship. The results suggest that interactivity is crucial on social media and sponsored content seems a good way to combine commercial messages into entertainment content.