An analysis of professional athletes' visual self-presentations on instagram application

Purpose: Instagram is one of the most popular social media application that allows individuals to express themselves effectively by sharing photos and videos. The purpose of this study was to examine the world's professional athletes' self-presentation on Instagram application. Method: A Content analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, was employed to analyze twenty four professional athletes' photographs and videos on Instagram in the study. Each professional athlete's account in 2017 were coded, totally 5030 photographs and 854 videos in the sample. A codebook and a coding protocol were developed based on previous studies. Cohen's Kappa were calculated to determine intercoder reliability figures. Chi square test was used to determine the differences of gender, branch, type of sport (individual or team). Results: Cohen Kappa analyzes showed that the consistency between the coders was statistically significant. Two coders' figures ranged from a low of 87% (type of post of athlete) and a high of 92% (post in which the athlete appeared). Findings revealed types of photos and videos posted, significant differences found between the post category and post in which the professional athlete appeared in terms of gender, branch and type of sport. Conclusion: We can say that professional athletes use the Instagram application to support their professional careers, communicate with the masses and as a step in becoming a brand in globally. Therefore, such an effort must be managed carefully and effectively. Keywords; Professional Athletes, Social Media, Instagram, Visual Self-Presentation