Online Media: Why Use It? To What Benefit? An Examination of Online Communication Within National Olympic Committees

Relationship development is indispensable to sports organizations that are now using online media with increasing interest in building and maintaining relationships the publics. Most studies examining communication based on content analyses of organizations’ social profiles. At same time, only scarce literature approaches phenomenon from an organizational perspective scholars try assess degree adoption, these limited by sample typology thus limiting generality their findings. This study investigates usage purposes 17 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) perceived outcomes through a qualitative approach. Respondents identified various like information dissemination, centrality, control over narrative, organization, stakeholder promotion. The most prominent such constituency knowledge, relations, engagement enhancement raising awareness issues. Implications for practitioners research recommendations were also discussed.