UEFA Euro 2020: IWM study shows how the national football team and its players should act on social media

After its early exit from the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Germany as a football nation could face the next disappointment at the UEFA Euro 2020. In this case, researchers from the IWM and the University of Tübingen can offer some tips for crisis communication: bad news on social media elicits fewer angry reactions by fans when posted by the players.

After the 2018 FIFA World Cup exit, the researchers investigated how fans reacted to Facebook posts by the DFB team and the individual players Manuel Neuer and Thomas Müller. "Although Neuer and the DFB posted an identical statement after the defeat, Neuer received significantly fewer angry emojis than the DFB team. Müller received fewer negative reactions than the team, but more than Neuer," said the head of the study Prof. Dr. Sonja Utz.

The fact that the players were rated more positively by the fans than the team was also reflected in additionally collected questionnaire data. This can be explained by the so-called parasocial relationships between fans and football players. This term refers to people's relationship with media personalities, such as fans with their football idols. The closer the fan-player relationship is in good times, the milder the fans' reaction after a lost game. Nevertheless, no matter how good the crisis communication is, a game won is always the better option.