ABSTRACT
Of all the media present in sport, there is no area which has seen greater change and upheaval than social media over the past decade. Practically unheard of prior to the mass market emergence of the iPhone in 2007, social media has evolved into a powerful yet often misunderstood part of the communication spectrum. Social media have served to give fans and athletes a voice they never possessed before, but they have also engendered fear and concern among sport entities unaccustomed to dealing with media where users control a considerable share of the content flow (Sanderson, 2011).The growth in popularity of social media has been remarkable, with research indicating that worldwide use of social media accounts for 22 percent of all time spent online (Nielsenwire, 2010), a number that is certain to grow as time progresses.
