The following study applies the framework of self-presentation theory to examine one year of posts ( n = 1064) from the TikTok and Instagram accounts of 18 highly marketable NCAA athletes. A content analysis was used to examine differences by platform, gender, and content type following the approval of NIL compensation for collegiate athletes. Findings revealed significant differences between male and female athletes regarding the type of content posted, prevalent self-presentation themes, and engagement. Male athletes were found to post more frontstage athletic performance content and backstage marketable lifestyle content than female athletes. In contrast, female athletes posted more backstage content in the attractive appearance category, which also was the category with the highest engagement from audiences. Additionally frontstage content in athletic performance content categories was more prevalent on Instagram, while backstage content appeared more frequently on TikTok. These findings advance our understanding of athletes’ social media platform use and are in line with traditional media presentations of gender and sport.

中文翻译：

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绘制领域：有市场的 NCAA 运动员社交媒体自我展示的内容分析

以下研究应用自我展示理论的框架来检查 18 名高销路 NCAA 运动员的 TikTok 和 Instagram 帐户一年中的帖子 (n = 1064)。在批准大学运动员 NIL 补偿后，我们使用内容分析来检查平台、性别和内容类型之间的差异。调查结果显示，男性和女性运动员在发布的内容类型、普遍的自我展示主题和参与度方面存在显着差异。研究发现，男性运动员比女性运动员发布更多的前台运动表现内容和后台适销对路的生活方式内容。相比之下，女运动员在颜值类中发布的后台内容较多，这也是观众参与度最高的类别。此外，运动表现内容类别中的前台内容在 Instagram 上更为普遍，而后台内容在 TikTok 上则更为频繁地出现。这些发现增进了我们对运动员社交媒体平台使用的理解，并且与传统媒体对性别和体育的表述一致。