RH:#UNITEDINORANGE

#UnitedInOrange: A Study of the Twitter Behavior of the Denver Broncos Organization,

Players, Reporters, and Fans During the Playoffs
Abby Dorman
Wheaton College
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Abstract

With the rise in the popularity of social networking sites, many sports organizations have

taken to these online mediums to communicate with fans. Reporters, athletes, and fans also use

sites like Twitter to learn new information about their team and interact with each other. This

interaction can take the form of sharing pictures or videos, commenting on ones personal or

family life, or just sharing details and statistics from a game. Teams, reporters, fans, and athletes

alike rally around common hashtags, which act as a digital archive for all Tweets relating to a

certain subject. During major sporting events, Twitter use amongst these parties is amplified

even more than normal. The study found that both the volume and content of a championship

teams tweets changed in relation to their biggest games of the year, although the style varied

between the player, organization, sports reporter, and fan page.

Literature Review

Beginning in the early 2000s, the way that teams advertised, promoted, and

communicated their brand changed with the onset of social media. Journalists, fans, and even the

players themselves experienced many changes in they way they transmit information as a

consequence of these new methods of communication. Twitter is a multi-functional platform that

allows all facets of a sports organization to communicate and generate support that translates into

the real world of sports. In recent years, Twitter has become the primary social media site for fan

interaction with professional sports teams and athletes, even as it used by fans and reporters.

Many fans use athletes Twitter accounts to gain information about their personal lives

and feel a closer connection to the teams the athletes play on. Twitter goes above and beyond

previous online mediums like blogs that dont allow for a give and take between athletes and

fans. Fans and athletes interact more socially on Twitter as the athletes offer interactivity and
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insider perspectives into their daily lives. (Kassing & Sanderson, 2010) Athletes tweets often

also function to give insight into practices and games, other teammates, or the athletes personal

lives. One article stated, Athletes go from one-dimensional figures existing only on the field or

the court to two-dimensional individuals who have lives beyond the stadium or arena.

(Hambrick, Simmons, Greenhalgh, Greenwell, 2010, p. 463) Seeing this side of the athletes

fostered fan feelings of positivity towards the team in general, Hambrick said. The results

showed that respondents who experienced a greater connection to the athlete expressed more

positive feelings about the athletes team and were more likely to purchase products endorsed by

the athlete. (Hambrick et al., 2010, p. 467)

Sports teams and surrounding organizations can capitalize on the athlete-fan connection

by also fostering personal interaction with fans on their own Twitter accounts. One study that

initially focused on Facebook found that authenticity is instrumental in how a team presents itself

on social media. (Pronschinske, Gorza, and Walker, 2012) Fans are more likely to follow

successful teams, but their loyalty is also dependent on how the team account communicates

authenticity, discloses business details of the organization, and disseminates sport information.

Pronschinske concludes that when fans sense commitment from an organization, they feel more

involved.

Specifically, teams often use certain hashtags on Twitter to connect and show solidarity

with followers. One study examined the use of the hashtag #WorldSeries throughout the 2011

World Series. (Blaszka, Burch, Frederick, Clavio, and Walsh, 2012) They found that the hashtag

gave fans an opportunity to engage in this major event in many different ways, from information-

seeking behavior to connecting with other fans online. Blaszka also found that in general,

Sports organizations and events can use hashtags in a similar way to not only give fans an outlet
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to foster interaction through a liaison but also provide a platform to promote their product or

organization. (p. 448)

Finally, sports journalists are highly impacted by the increasing popularity of social

networking sites like Twitter. Twitter changes the amount of information that is communicated

and received, but it also changes the way that the information is conveyed. Journalists must be

present on Twitter so that they can post constant updates throughout the day instead of just one

major story by their deadline. Even print newspapers use Twitter as a primary news source to

find out breaking information on the teams and organizations they report on. (Sheffner &

Schultz, 2010) What used to be seen as trivial information, such as athletes hobbies and

preferences, now makes up a percentage of nearly every sports fans Twitter feed. As news takes

on a more personal tone, one of the biggest difficulties facing sports journalists on Twitter is the

delicacy of keeping their work and personal life separate, because the boundaries are now more

blurred than ever before. (Reed, 2012)

Considering all of these factors, this study examines four Twitter accounts related to the

Denver Broncos organization of the NFL and the content that they produced from January 22,

2016 through February 21, 2016. The four accounts represent the official team account, the most

valuable player, a fan site, and a sports reporter for the local newspaper. Following these four

accounts helped provide a comprehensive view of the Twitter conversation surrounding the

Broncos in the final month of their season. During this period of time, the Broncos won both the

AFC championship and the Super Bowl, so the study posed several research questions relating to

the effect of a major event on Twitter behavior.

RQ1: Do the amount and content of tweets change during a major event vs. in all other contexts?
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RQ2: How do team-related Twitter accounts promote interactivity with fans during major

events?

The study goes in-depth into each Twitter account, categorizing the Tweets into six

different types and discovering which categories made up the highest percentage. Also, the

Tweets were examined to see how many were published on the day of the big games and what

hashtags the organizations used to promote fan interactivity.

Methods

The official Denver Broncos account (@Broncos) has the highest number of followers

amongst these four accounts with 1.7 million, along with 6.272 following. Some of the accounts

that the Broncos follow are Bronco players, Colorado state representatives, and members of the

band One Direction. Their bio reads, Three-time Super Bowl champions: XXXII, XXXIII and

#SB50. We are #BroncosCountry. The account has 34,200 tweets overall, but for the 30-day

period of this study they tweeted only 374 times.

Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller (@Millerlite40) describes himself meagerly in his

Twitter profile as Texas A&M DeSoto, Tx Snapchat & Instagram - @Millerlite40

vonmiller.org. He doesnt mention his affiliation with the Broncos in his bio, but the majority of

his photos and tweets reflect his status as a star player. He has 168,000 followers and follows 445

accounts. Out of his total 881 tweets, 47 occurred during the time frame of this study.

The next account, Mile High Report (@MileHighReport), describes itself as Denver

Broncos news, analysis, and opinion. For fans, by fans. It also links itself to @SBNation, a

certified Twitter account that is self-described as a sports appreciation machine maintained by

sports fans. The Mile High Report tweeted 264 times during the study, a small percentage of

their 64,700 overall tweets. They have 44,600 followers while following 1,082 accounts.
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Multiple staff members who describe themselves as lifelong Broncos fans contribute to this

account, constantly updating followers on every move the organization makes.

Finally, the study followed Broncos beat reporter Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala). She

describes herself as NFL/Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. Former NY Times senior

staff and Sports Illustrated producer. Tar Heel. She has 12,100 followers, while following 3,803

accounts. During the study she published 293 of her 19,100 overall tweets.

The tweets from these four accounts are sorted using a table that categorizes athletes

tweets created by Hambrick, Simmons, Greenhalgh, and Greenwell. (2010) This table presented

six different categories that all athlete/sport-related account tweets could be coded under. The

first category is interactivity, and is defined by Hambrick as an athletes direct communication

with fellow athletes and fans. Von Miller demonstrated interactivity in his response, Yes sir!!

to President Obamas congratulatory Super Bowl tweet: Just got off the phone with Coach

Kubiak. Congrats to Peyton, Von Miller, and that monster @Broncos defense see you at the

White House! (@Millerlite40, 2/9/16) The next category is diversion, and is defined as any

tweets with a non-sports message, whether they discussed friends and families or other personal

interests. Nicki Jhabvala often uses this category to provide information about athletes, such as

her tweet that read, In case you were wondering, Von Millers favorite super hero is Dr.

Manhattan. (@NickiJhabvala, 2/1/16) The third category, information sharing, provides insight

into an athletes teammates, team, or sport, such as details about practices and training sessions

or recent competitive events and results. The Mile High Report account uses this category often

to update fans on team decisions. For example, Report: @Broncos may have interest in RG3.

Would you be okay with that? (@MileHighReport, 2/17/16) Content, the fourth category of

tweets, provides links to pictures, videos, and other Web sites such as an athletes blog or a
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teams official Web site. Nicki Jhabvala tweeted, @cjandersonb22s IG post is very cool,

accompanied by a photo and caption that Broncos running back CJ Anderson posted of himself

with Tom Brady. (@NickiJhablava, 1/26/16) The fifth category is fanship, in which athletes

discuss sports other than their own teams and teammates. Jhabvala occasionally tweets about

other Denver teams, as evidenced in one tweet about the Nuggets: Ooooh YESSSS! Nuggets

could turn to Billups if Arturas Karrisovas goes to Nets. (@NickiJhabvala, 2/12/16) The sixth

and final category is promotional, which involves publicity regarding sponsorships, upcoming

games, and related promotions such as discounted tickets or giveaways. The Denver Broncos

tweeted, Follow us and RT for this for a chance to win #SB50 @Bose headphones! Well

choose a random winner! (@Broncos, 2/2/16) (Hambrick et all, 2010)

Results

For the purpose of the study, each of the tweet categories was assigned a number:

Interactivity (1), Diversion (2), Information sharing (3), Content (4), Fanship (5), and

Promotional (6).

Number of Tweets in Each Category

1 2 3 4 5 6
@Broncos 9 21 142 145 3 54
@Millerlite40 9 7 6 19 0 6
@MileHighRepor 18 27 143 49 2 25

t
@NickiJhabvala 7 49 158 57 17 5
TOTAL: 43 104 320 270 22 90

The total number of tweets coded is 849. Of the 849, 38% were categorized as

information sharing. The second highest category was content, at 32% of the total. Diversion
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tweets made up 12%, 11% were promotional, and 5% focused on interactivity. Fanship was the

least used category at 3%. Across all the accounts, categories 3 and 4 combined to make up the

vast majority of tweets. Users often shared game updates, pre-game and practice reports, and

pictures or videos that reflected team events.

The posts also covered a range of emotions and moods. For example, the Denver Broncos

used a variety of styles of tweets to relate to their followers and arouse excitement about the

team. Before the Super Bowl, they tweeted Were sew ready! attached to a photo of the Super

Bowl jerseys being embroidered. (@Broncos, 1/26/16) They also tweeted updates encouraging

high morale, such as this quote from the head coach: Kubiak: Ive got a smile on my face today

because my team practiced well todaytheyre getting ready to play. #SB50. (@Broncos,

1/29/16) The Mile High Report was more prone to post stat-specific tweets, such as this update

during the AFC championship game: Passer ratings so far: Tom Brady: 21.1, Peyton Manning:

113.0. (@MileHighReport, 1/24/16) Jhabvala also posted many in-game updates, ranging from

starting lineups to broken records, all serving to paint the Broncos in a favorable light. During

the Super Bowl, she took a positive spin on Peyton Mannings interception, writing that it was

Mannings first interception since Nov. 15 vs. Kansas City, when he threw four and was

benched in the third quarter. (@Broncos, 2/7/16)

The Broncos also utilized several hashtags to promote excitement and enthusiasm for big

games. Almost all of the tweets leading up to the Super Bowl contained the hashtag #SB50, and

many others involved either #BeatThePatriots or #BeatThePanthers. The Broncos used the

hashtag #OrangeFriday every Friday throughout the season, accompanied by photos of fans

showing Broncos spirit. Before the AFC champsionship game, they posted a photo of state
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senators wearing Broncos jerseys at work with the caption, #OrangeFriday at the state Senate!

#BeatThePatriots! (@Broncos, 1/22/16)

Besides cataloging the amount and content of tweets from all four accounts, this study

examined the research question of how the amount of tweets fluctuated surrounding game days

and major events. The two most important games of the year fell within the thirty-day window of

the study, so many tweets during this time were dedicated to information related to either the

AFC championship or the Super Bowl. On every account except Von Millers, the days of the

Super Bowl and AFC Championship games had by far the highest amount of tweets over any

other day.

The Denver Broncos had 56 tweets on the Super Bowl and 55 during the AFC

championship, making up 30% of the total tweets in the thirty-day window. Nicki Jhabvala

tweeted 52 times during the AFC championship and 35 times during the Super Bowl, also

amounting to 30% of her total tweets. The Mile High Report tweeted heavily throughout the two

games, sending out 35 tweets during the AFC championship and 38 during the Super Bowl to

comprise 51% of their total posts.

In the case of Von Miller, he was actually prone to tweet most on the day after the big

games, but still only sent out 8 tweets the day after the Super Bowl and 5 tweets after the AFC

championship. His directly game-related tweets often occurred right after the game. Right after

the AFC championship, he posted, Great win! Proud of my brothers! Right back in the

laboratory tomorrow! #blessed @chrisharrisjr. (@Millerlite40) Miller also helped fans to feel

more connected to the Broncos as a whole by speaking highly of his teammates and coaches in

his tweets. He often talked about how much he admired fellow teammate and outside linebacker

DeMarcus Ware. @DeMarcusWare Legend. (@Millerlite 40, 2/20/16) The content of Von
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Millers Twitter account creates an image of unity and authenticity that creates positive feelings

towards the Broncos organization in fans who follow him.

Discussion

Of the six categories for tweets, as presented by Hambrick et al., Broncos affiliated

accounts in this study used information-sharing and content in the majority of their tweets. This

pattern especially held true during the Super Bowl and AFC championship, when Twitter activity

was found to be highest for the four accounts. They each used specific methods to create

solidarity and excitement amongst Broncos fans leading up to the big games. The official

Broncos account used the hashtag #OrangeFriday to make fans feel like they had a voice and an

important role in preparing the team for game day. They also showed insider glimpses of the

teams preparation, such as pictures of the Super Bowl jerseys or the teams plane as it was

leaving for a game. These tweets all functioned to help the fans feel more invested in the team,

but also to keep the Broncos at the forefront of their minds throughout the week, not just on

Sunday.

Sports writer Nicki Jhabvala also provided fans with insider information on both game

facts and the players personal lives. Her tweets helped show the Broncos as a successful

organization but also as down-to-earth and relatable people. She quoted Broncos defensive

player Chris Harris Jr. at a press conference saying, Weve been in tight games all season. They

havent been in games like this. (@NickiJhabvala, 2/7/16) Along with the quote was a picture of

Harris holding his baby daughter, combining information about his hope for the teams success

with his apparent care for his family.

Von Millers Twitter account allowed fans to hear the voice of one of the teams star

players and consequently feel the excitement of the big games from a players perspective.
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Because fans are able to have para-social interaction with players like Miller, they feel more

closely identified with the teams success or failure. They receive the athletes emotions firsthand

rather than through a mediated source (Hambrick et al., 2010)

In the future, it might be helpful to compare the teams Twitter behavior surrounding big

games to their amount and style of posts throughout the earlier parts of the season. Their Twitter

activity during the thirty-day window of the study was probably not consistent with their regular

posts. It would also be interesting to explore how fans used the hashtags promoted by the

organization. This study focused on how official team-affiliated accounts used hashtags like

#OrangeFriday and #SB50, but those were also used by many fans to communicate their feelings

about the upcoming games. Looking at the fan pages would also help gain a deeper

understanding of the effectiveness of the organizations use of hashtags because it would reflect

how they engaged with the teams attempt at encourage morale and interactivity.

In conclusion, this study found that accounts from all aspects of the Broncos

organization produced their highest volume of Tweets surrounding the most important games of

the year the Super Bowl and the AFC Championship. For the four accounts studied, 30-50% of

their total Tweets in the thirty-day window occurred on the day of or after these major games.

The organization also employed specific hashtags during this time that unified their followers

and encouraged their support for the upcoming games.

References

Blaszka, M., Burch, L. M., Frederick, E. L., Clavio, G., & Walsh, P. (2012). #WorldSeries: An
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