Promoting women’s soccer through social media: how the US federation used Twitter for the 2011 World Cup

Figures & data

Table 1. Type of coverage by period, provided by ussoccer_wnt tweets.

	Before World Cup		During World Cup		After World Cup		TOTAL
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Live coverage	0	0	394	47.36	0	0	394	47.36
Pregame coverage	0	0	41	4.93	6	0.72	47	5.65
Postgame coverage	0	0	32	3.85	4	0.48	36	4.33
Update on team	29	3.48	60	7.21	40	4.81	129	15.50
Trivia/game	2	0.24	16	1.92	0	0	18	2.16
Spoiler/follow	0	0	2	0.24	0	0	2	0.24
Answer question	1	0.12	30	3.61	11	1.32	42	5.05
Other	27	3.25	114	13.70	23	2.76	164	19.71
TOTAL	59	7.09	689	82.82	84	10.09	832	100

Table 2. Format of exterior stories with link tweeted by ussoccer_wnt, by period.

	Before World Cup		During World Cup		After World Cup		TOTAL
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Hard news	3	2.38	13	10.32	7	5.56	23	18.26
Feature story	5	3.97	6	4.76	2	1.59	13	10.32
Interview	7	5.56	35	27.78	9	7.14	51	40.48
Fun Montage/video	0	0.00	3	2.38	1	0.79	4	3.17
Picture album	3	2.38	2	1.59	0	0.00	5	3.97
Ad/sponsor	7	5.56	5	3.97	1	0.79	13	10.32
Other	1	0.79	10	7.94	6	4.76	17	13.49
TOTAL	26	20.63	74	58.73	26	20.63	126	100

Note: The percentage figures in this table were calculated within rows only.

Table 3. Type of visuals by period, either directly tweeted by ussoccer_wnt or part of a link tweeted by ussoccer_wnt.

	Before World Cup		During World Cup		After World Cup		TOTAL
	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Sport context	30	8.57	33	9.43	2	0.57	65	18.57
Emotions	2	0.57	26	7.43	2	0.57	30	8.57
Press duties	2	0.57	19	5.43	28	8.00	49	14.00
Pose/portrait	10	2.86	56	16.00	6	1.71	72	20.57
Ad/sponsor	9	2.57	8	2.29	0	0.00	17	4.86
Headshot	0	0.00	0	0.00	1	0.29	1	0.29
Other	37	10.57	69	19.71	10	2.86	116	33.14
TOTAL	90	25.71	211	60.29	49	14.00	350	100

Note: The percentage figures in this table were calculated within rows only.

Table 4. Concerned team, by source.

	ussoccer		ussoccer_wnt		TOTAL
	N	% of ussoccer	N	% of ussoccer_wnt	N	% of both accounts
USWNT	278	38.19	800	96.15	1078	69.10
Other women’s team	1	0.14	15	1.80	16	1.03
USMNT	375	51.51	3	0.36	378	24.23
Other men’s team	50	6.87	0	0.00	50	3.21
Multiple/mixed	11	1.51	9	1.08	20	1.28
N/A	13	1.79	5	0.60	18	1.15
TOTAL	728	46.67	832	53.33	1560	100

Note: The percentage figures appearing in the ‘total’ row were calculated within the row only.

Figure 1. Type of coverage by source and by period.

Table 5. Format of exterior stories by source.

	ussoccer		ussoccer_wnt	TOTAL
	Total	Including … about women’s soccer (%)	Total	Total
Hard news	37	6 (16.21%)	23	60
Feature story	34	14 (41.18%)	13	47
Interview	25	22 (88%)	51	76
(Edited) Live coverage	2	2 (100%)	0	2
Fun video/Montage	9	8 (88.89%)	4	13
Picture album	13	6 (46.15%)	5	18
Ad/Sponsor	4	4 (100%)	13	17
Other	20	2 (10%)	10	30
TOTAL	144	64 (44.44%)	119	263

Note: The percentage figures in this table were calculated within rows only.

Table 6. Type of visuals accompanying stories about the USWNT or women’s soccer by source. The visuals included here were either directly tweeted or part of a link that was tweeted.

	ussoccer		ussoccer_wnt		TOTAL
	N	% of ussoccer (%)	N	% of ussoccer_wnt (%)	N	% of both (%)
Sport context	97	40.25	65	18.57	162	27.41
Emotions	21	8.71	30	8.57	51	8.63
Press duties	13	5.39	49	14.00	62	10.49
Pose/Portrait	50	20.75	72	20.57	122	20.64
Ad/Sponsor	4	1.66	17	4.86	21	3.55
Headshot	21	8.71	1	0.29	22	3.72
Other	35	14.52	116	33.14	151	25.55
TOTAL	241	40.78	350	59.22	591	100

Note: The percentage figures appearing in the ‘total’ row were calculated within the row only.

Table 7. Main identification of athlete by gender and by source.

	Full name (%)	First name (%)	Last name (%)	Nickname (%)	Total (%)
Female athletes by @ussoccer	52.63	7.02	30.41	9.94	100
Female athletes by @ussoccer_wnt	38.33	5.84	43.58	12.26	100
Female athletes across both sources	41.90	6.13	40.29	11.68	100
Male athletes by @ussoccer	44.12	1.96	51.96	1.96	100
Male athletes by @ussoccer_wnt	100.00	0	0	0	100
Male athletes across both sources	44.66	1.94	51.46	1.94	100

Note: The percentage figures in this table were compiled using 900 tweets because 660 tweets (348 from @ussoccer and 312 from @ussoccer_wnt) did not make any reference to any individual. These figures were calculated within rows only.