The role of Twitter in giving voice: coverage of women’s sport in social media.

Twitter, as a social media platform, has grown exponentially in popularity in recent years. Due its quick and convenient conveyance of information, numerous organisations have created their own Twitter feed as part of their marketing campaign, including many of the UK’s National Governing Bodies for sport. Previous research into traditional media has concluded that the coverage of female sport is inferior in both frequency and quality to male sport. The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent in which Twitter, as a form of sporting neo-media, seeks to reinforce or challenge the dominant masculine hegemony created by this traditional sports coverage. To this end, the paper empirically examines the inclusivity and quality of female coverage of seven UK National Governing Bodies, through a content analysis of their Twitter feeds. The study’s results illustrate some remaining inequality in the coverage of female sport on Twitter. But does however highlight the way in which Twitter, as a contemporary media platform, appears to value the voice of women in sport more than traditional media. The paper celebrates the creation of a contemporary site that gives the voice of women a legitimate place, but accordingly also recommends that some particular organisations must do more to create an online cultural site that is welcoming and inclusive to all genders