It's a Man's Man's Man's World

Women are heavily prominent today in a vast number of sports networks. Women have finally gained national recognition for their roles reporting on the sports news along side men. Just as their involvement with the sports news world has evolved so have the challenges they face. With the perpetually changing times and the rise of social media, the influence of these platforms affect the overexposure of these women. How does social media change people’s perceptions of these reporters?

 

Thirty men and women were surveyed to see if social media changes a person's perspective of a celebrity-type figure in the sports world, specifically with an extension of the Clemson University's study with FOX Sports 1 reporter Erin Andrews and Kirk Herbstreit.

 

In the study, a group of 30 men and women ages 17-36 were shown the Twitter pictures of Erin Andrews with four different multiple choice options of what her profession could be based off of their viewing. The results were as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. 47% thought that her profession

based off of the appearance of her Twitter

pictures was a Talk Show Host.

 

2. 23% thought that her profession 

based off of the appearance of her Twitter

pictures was a Model.

 

3. 23% thought that her profession

based off of the apperance of her Twitter

pictures was a journalist.

 

4. 6% thought that her profession 

based off of the appearance of her Twitter pictures

was a lawyer.

 

 

Afterwards, I asked the same group of men and women to look at the Twitter pictures of Kirk Herbstreit. I gave them the same four different multiple choice options I presented for Erin Andrews' profession. Once again, their answers were based off of their viewing.  The results were as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. 70% thought that his profession

based off of the apperance of his Twitter

pictures was a journalist.

 

2. 17% thought that his profession

based off of the appearance of his Twitter

pictures was a lawyer.

 

3. 10% thought that his profession

based off of the appearance of his Twitter

pictures was a talk show host.

 

4. 3% thought that his profession

based off of the appearance of his Twitter

pictures was a model. 

 

 

 

The first survey showed that the majority of the thirty participants thought that Erin Andrews was not involved in any type of journalism judging off of her social media accounts. Instead, the participants belived her to be a part of the entertainment industry in the profession of "Talk Show Host" and "Model". The second survey shows that the majority of participants believed Kirk Herbstreit's profession was involved with journalism contrasting with Erin Andrews. 

 

Based off the reactions to both surveys in this particular study, the conclusion is that social media sites have the potential to project a viewpoint onto the viewer.