Cheng Yuan, Wu Yin
School of Economics and Management, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
PLoS One. 2025 Sep 3;20(9):e0330900. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0330900. eCollection 2025.
The rise of the "sports fandom circle" has become a significant phenomenon in the digital media era, reshaping the emotional and social dynamics of sports fan communities. This study employs grounded theory methodology to analyze web-scraped data from 40 selected accounts on major Chinese social media platforms [Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili] over a two-year period. These accounts were identified based on their focus on celebrity athletes [e.g., Fan Zhendong, Sun Yingsha, Wang Chuqin] and their engagement in fan-specific activities such as support, fan clubs, and voting. The analysis involved open coding, axial coding, and selective coding to construct an emotional interaction model. Our findings reveal that international sports events serve as emotional catalysts, where competition, nationalism, and athlete narratives trigger fans' emotional arousal. Digital media platforms, including spatiotemporal extension, virtualization, and selectivity, amplify these emotions, fostering proximal emotional attachment to athletes. Through symbolic interactions and digital consumption, fans transition from individual engagement to collective emotional aggregation, solidifying their sense of group identity. However, in the reproduction process, the anonymity of digital media platforms can lead to emotional polarization, intensifying conflicts among fan groups, or facilitate emotional resocialization, fostering more rational and inclusive fandom behaviors. This study provides a theoretical framework for understanding the emotional evolution of sports fandom in the digital media era and offers practical insights for managing online fan communities, mitigating conflicts, and promoting a healthier digital sports culture.
“体育粉丝圈”的兴起已成为数字媒体时代的一个重要现象，重塑了体育粉丝群体的情感和社会动态。本研究采用扎根理论方法，对中国主要社交媒体平台（微博、小红书和哔哩哔哩）上40个选定账号在两年时间内通过网络抓取的数据进行分析。这些账号是根据其对明星运动员（如樊振东、孙颖莎、王楚钦）的关注以及参与粉丝特定活动（如支持、粉丝俱乐部和投票）来确定的。分析过程包括开放式编码、主轴编码和选择性编码，以构建一个情感互动模型。我们的研究结果表明，国际体育赛事充当情感催化剂，其中竞争、民族主义和运动员故事引发粉丝的情感唤起。包括时空延伸、虚拟化和选择性在内的数字媒体平台放大了这些情感，促进了粉丝对运动员的近距离情感依恋。通过符号互动和数字消费，粉丝从个人参与转变为集体情感聚合，巩固了他们的群体认同感。然而，在再生产过程中，数字媒体平台的匿名性可能导致情感两极分化，加剧粉丝群体之间的冲突，或者促进情感再社会化，培养更理性和包容的粉丝行为。本研究为理解数字媒体时代体育粉丝的情感演变提供了一个理论框架，并为管理在线粉丝社区、缓解冲突和促进更健康的数字体育文化提供了实践见解。
