Antonio Williams*, Indiana University, Bloomington, United States Matt Blaszka, Indiana University, Bloomington, United States Patrick Walsh, Indiana University, Bloomington, United States Track: Research Presentation Topic: Building virtual communities and social networking applications for health professionals Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School Room: C-Rotunda Room Date: 2012-09-15 04:00 PM – 04:45 PM Last modified: 2012-09-12

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Objective/Significance of Study

To date, no academic research exists regarding fitness practitioners’ use of web 2.0. The purpose of this study was to examine the uses and gratifications fitness consumers gain from following celebrity trainers on Twitter. Moreover, how a fitness professional’s use of social media may positively affect the attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of fitness consumers who follow them via social media platforms (i.e., Twitter). A study of this nature may prove to be advantageous to health care and fitness professionals in their attempt to promote physical activity adherence.

Background

Previous literature indicated that health care spending in the United States is exponentially increasing (Accenture, 2009; Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2002). The prevalence of obesity and other public health concerns have sparked interest in the development of innovative technologies that deliver fitness services and products to consumers through various channels of communication. Connecting consumers to health and fitness information has become easier, convenient, and inexpensive. Moreover, this study aimed to provide insight into the uses and gratifications gained by fitness consumers through the use of social media.

Particularly, Twitter is a fast-growing social media platform with over 300 million users worldwide. Due to Twitter’s popularity, health and fitness organizations have begun to use the platform to increase brand awareness, and communicate with consumers.

Method

The internationally renowned fitness celebrity used in the current study had a total of 15,000 followers at the time of the research. A survey was created using the online survey tool Survey Monkey and consisted of items measuring uses and gratification, demographics, brand loyalty, and social media usage. The corresponding survey link was re-tweeted by the celebrity 3 to 5 times per week over a six-week period. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were run to examine demographics, social media usages, and physical activity. A multiple linear regression analysis (MLR) was utilized to examine the relationship between attitudinal and behavioral loyalty (i.e., dependent variables) and three uses and gratification factors: functional fandom, organic fandom, and interaction (i.e., independent variables).

Results

Data were collected from a sample of followers (n = 251). The demographic characteristics of the sample indicated that the participants were mostly Caucasian (82.7%) females (91.5%) between the age of 20-41 (80.6%). The vast majority of participants followed because of health (89.9%), fitness (84.3%), brand recognition (79.8%) and information (66.1%) related gratifications. The results of the MLR indicated that the model had an overall good fit (F = 27.139, p < .001), and that the three antecedents accounted for a total of 26% (adjusted R2 = .254) of the variance of loyalty. Loyalty was significantly predicted by all three types of social media messages: interaction ( = .294, p < .003), organic fandom ( = .221, p < .02), and functional fandom ( = .227, p < .05).

Conclusions

This study aimed to provide insight into the emerging area of fitness-related social media usage. The results of this study may suggest that the use of social media platforms as a form of external brand communication may aid health and fitness professionals in extending their reach amongst consumers in the marketplace, and positively effecting consumer loyalty.