The Use of Social Networking within the Sport and Exercise Sciences

This article has been reproduced by the kind permisson of the London Journal of Tourism, Sport and Creative Industries 
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The Use of Social Networking within the Sport and Exercise Sciences

James T. Beale
Department of Health and Biosciences
University Of East London

The idea of social networking has gained a mass of attention in recent years.  This has come about from both a social and a business perspective and is evident through the popularity of websites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Bebo to name but a few.  The scale of social networking can be seen by its usage with Facebook having over 80 million members worldwide.  More recently there has been the introduction of industry specific social networking sites.  This article will review social networking from this perspective and will discuss the usage of social networking within the sport and exercise area.

Social networking is the commonly accepted term and is something that encompasses those looking to grow networks in both social and business settings.  The purpose of this article is to discuss social networking as a creative industry. As such at this stage of the article, it is useful to replace the term social networking to either contact networking or business networking as suggested by Keith Irving (2007), one of the co-founders of iStadia, the sport and exercise social networking website.

History has demonstrated that new technological advances have made a huge difference to our lives and to the sport and exercise sciences.  It was only 10 years ago that as a student my lectures were often delivered with the aide of an overhead projector.  Now, having worked as an academic for the past 6 years it would be laughable to turn up to present a lecture without a polished power point presentation.  Within the sport and exercise domain it was standard practice to use a hand held stopwatch to measure sprint tests in the not too distant past.  However, now with the introduction of specialist wing gates, when the athlete breaks a laser beam they start the timing of a sprint and we can take several split times throughout a 12 second sprint, giving us additional information on separate segments of the sprint that is far more accurate than using hand held stop watches.  Both of the technological advancements mentioned above provide us with an alternative and an improved way of looking at the already existing issues (in this case presentation aids and time measuring equipment). 

As with the above issues the idea of networking is far from new, the phrase ‘old school tie’ has connotations of jobs being given out as a result of the school that you attended and by implications through the network of people that were around the individual at a very young age.  With the above issues of technological advancement and the networking process it is deemed worthy to consider new advancements in the form of internet based social networking within specialist industries.  Broadly, social networking works on the premise that in order to get to a specific destination (be that from a social, romantic or a business perspective) people considerably raise their chances through knowing people who know people who in turn know other people.  Through knowing the first person you raise your chances of getting to know the important person in that chain. The most basic explanation that may help is to look at it in the same way as we use a map to get to a destination.  To get to a specific destination it is necessary to know what route to take and it is helpful to have another alternative route just in case something unexpected happens on that specific route.  Similarly if we are looking to get to a specific point for example a job or a ‘in the door’ of a big client.  The route to get to a desired destination is often clear in terms of the qualifications necessary for a specific job.  However it not so clear as to why people with the same qualifications differ in terms of their success. One possible reason for this brings to mind the old adage of ‘it is not what you know but who you know’ that is the reason for occupational success.  Through a utilising a process of networking we may well enhance our chances of getting to know the correct people.  Internet based social networking in this case can allow us to be strategic and get to know the right person through going through a series of steps to get to the person that we need to know in order to enhance our chance of getting that desired job in the same way that a map can assist us with getting to a physical destination.

At present the niche market of sport and exercise social networking is exclusively carried out through iStadia.  The website was initially set up in March 2007 and in the period March 2007 to March 2008 has accrued approximately 500 members.  Personally as a member since May 2007 I consider the site has generally developed in a way to assist its members.  As a social networking site it provides the following opportunities.

The first opportunity is about marketing yourself and your skills.  You are given a series of pages and an opportunity to advertise yourself and the skills that you have.  Through these pages there is also a free advert where you can direct visitors to your personal website or your employer’s website.  The format of the website is very clear and it allows members without a current internet presence to gain access to this medium in a very clear and professional manner.  The next stage is that similarly to other ‘web 2.0 sites’ like YouTube you are able to add user-generated content for public viewing.  This is done in the forms of blogs and articles.  Once this is done members have the opportunity to rate and comment on the blog or article.  Irving (2007) points out in his article explaining the benefits of adding information to a networking site.

“Articles can be added and discussed and then rated.  In the not too distant future we will add wiki’s which will allow knowledge/research to be added by members (as in wikipedia).  This means that it will also be right up to date  and not one or two years behind when it eventually appears in a journal” (Irving, 2007).

Once joined you then have the option to contact others and others can contact you to join in each of their networks.  This acts as a kind of introduction which is personalised through a message of invitation, once formed this acts as a form of non committal partnership.  On first usage I found this to be slightly uncomfortable.  However there have been a number of times over the past year when I have utilised these contacts and that people have come to me for among other things referrals, a very welcome thing.  There have also been a number of less welcomed approaches for advice on things such as training to become a sport psychologist.  Despite the latter being described as ‘less welcomed’ it was still nice to have the contact with people that once would hope would take the advice well and perhaps spring up again in other capacities in future.  There have also been a number of people who have contacted me to join their network that I have not heard from since agreeing.

The site has also come in useful in terms of providing a forum on which to have a transparent communication process for a group that I run independently of the site in the form of a private club.  This has enabled group members to continue discussions after our seminars have finished in a way that, everyone can see through follow up on topics and by making arrangements for other events.  This has been a very positive experience for all those involved in the group.

The site also provides public clubs where all members can join to discuss topics such as motivation for sport or strength and conditioning.  There are a number of these public clubs where information and opinion can be passed and discussed on a range of topics.  These clubs appear to be set to grow and I would suggest provide a useful forum for areas such as peer consultation.

The final part of this site is centred around continued professional development (CPD) courses.  This particular area appears somewhat unique to this form of medium.  However from a users perspective it is refreshing to see a group put on high quality CPD courses outside of the governing body attempts.  The jury is still very much out on the quality of these courses.  However the potential is there for this to bring a new perspective on CPD with the sport and exercise sciences.

Having made a strong case for the usage of social networking within the sport and exercise sciences and the current medium for doing so there is a concern that I have about the efficacy of the social networking in the manner mentioned above.  I would hope that these would form the basis of discussion questions.  The concern is based purely on my opinion and anecdotal experience of using the site over the past year.

The issue is to do with quality control.  To take as a first point the issue of articles and blogs. It is true that the articles can be reviewed by what is in some cases represents a peer group.  Each member of iStadia has the opportunity to comment on articles downloaded.  However there is nothing to stop articles being published that have opinions within them that are ill informed and go against any previous research indicators.  This is something which the academic community may find especially difficult as it would be an easy mistake for a student to make, referencing what they consider to be an academically rigorous resource which could actually have been written by any member or any academic with an axe to grind without sufficient evidence to make assertions. To add to this the issue of publishing data there is also the issue of no restrictions on members.  On day one of my Masters degree I distinctly remember the tutor saying ‘beware of cowboys spurs clanging.  The industry is fraught with cowboys who have done a 2 week course and then decided to call themselves a sport psychologist’.  These are words that stay with me to this day.  This site appears to do nothing to stop these issues and there are a number of people promoting themselves as what appears to go way beyond that of what their qualifications seem to suggest. 

Industry indications would appear to suggest that there will be a lowering of usage of more mainstream sites such as Facebook.  However industry indications would appear to suggest that there will be a role for this form of medium in future.  With this in mind it makes the idea more appealing, and a way to do business and form business connections which may well be here for sometime to come.

In summary, as a user of the site I have had a very positive experience of using the iStadia website and would suggest that web based social networking has a place in future and is something that is worthy of consideration for those involved in most niche markets.  I consider the pros of this medium to far outweigh the cons and that those areas of concern represent challenges that can be overcome by the industry and it is my anticipation that this will happen in the future.

References:
Irving, K. (2007). Social networking: Why it's special and why it should be of interest to you. Retrieved 8th February, 2008, from www.istadia.com/article/keithirving/13

About the author:
James Beale is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the University of East London where he has worked since 2002.  James is also a chartered psychologist that regularly works supporting athletes within a range of different sports as a practicing sport psychologist. 

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London is one of the world’s most heterogeneous and cosmopolitan cities. It is a quintessential ‘global city' located at the interface of manifold networks, flows and motilities. The London Journal of Tourism, Sport and Creative Industries (LJTSCI) seeks to publish articles on a variety of related topics which encapsulates this diversity and the nature of its local-global intersections.
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Keith
Keith Irving
iStadia