Postgraduate Dissertation Cover Sheet

The following form should be completed, and attached as the cover of each copy of your dissertation submitted. Two hard copies of the dissertation must be submitted to the Department of Management office by 6pm on the due day; please note that neither of these copies can be returned. You must also submit your dissertation to Moodle, if you encounter any problems you may send this as an email attachment to the following email address: management-pg@bbk.ac.uk before the deadline. Student Name Peter Jette Programme Student ID 12903158 Richard Tacon

MSc Sport Management Supervisor and the Business of Football

Title of Dissertation Word count

Strangers On A Plane? An Examination Of Social Capital In An Online Fan Community 18,571

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Strangers On A Plane? An Examination Of Social Capital In An Online Fan Community

Peter Jette Student ID 12903158 MSc Sport Management and the Business of Football September 30, 2013

Abstract

While sport participation has often been seen as having various benefits to those involved does sport fandom have similar implications? Specifically do the online communities that have arisen from these fandoms have similar benefits for their participants? This will be studied in the form of social capital, is social capital created and does social capital exist within these online fan communities? This research uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative (primarily qualitative) methods to determine not only if social capital is created in these communities but also to attempt to describe and understand these communities and the networks present within them. This research finds that social capital can be created and does exist in an online community however its affects may only apply to a small portion of the community. Most interesting is the impact of user behaviour on the amount of social capital that is available to that user.

Background ............................................................................................5 Literature Review .................................................................................10

Social Capital Defintion .....................................................................................10 Current Social Capital Research ......................................................................17 Blogs ...................................................................................................................22 Online/Offline Ethnogoraphy ............................................................................24

Methodology .........................................................................................29
Research Design ................................................................................................29 Research Question ............................................................................................30 Research Limitations ........................................................................................31 Data Collection ...................................................................................................32 Data Analysis .....................................................................................................35

Discussion/Analysis ............................................................................37
Presentation of Findings ...................................................................................37 Analysis of Findings .........................................................................................65

Conclusion ............................................................................................72 References ............................................................................................74

Background
In other words, the Internet was doing two things for Bruce - it allowed him to separate from the exterior life he hated, but also allowed him to stay engaged with an interior life he wanted. It was, ultimately the single most important aspect of who he was: It removed his present tense unhappiness while facilitating the possibility for future joy. It made the dark part of his mind smaller, but it made the optimistic part limitless. It added when needed to affix and subtracted what he hoped to destroy. And maybe this was bad for Bruces humanity, but I think it was probably good. I think it took a mostly sad man and made him mostly happy. The degree of authenticity doesnt matter.

Right?1

Chuck Klostermans The Visible Man is a work of fiction but the above quote illustrates what is a new and emerging element of what it means to be alive, basically unlimited access to information and people through the internet. Even in the relatively short time that the internet has been accessible to large numbers of people it has fundamentally changed the way we live our lives and especially how we interact with each other.

What has previously been considered a virtual or online reality is an idea that has to be questioned, is something virtual if it affects ones life? As the line between the

real world and the virtual world become blurred it is important to understand the nature of the virtual world and its effects on its participants.

Participation in sport has long been seen as a positive influence on the lives of its participants. The benefits for ones health, fitness, and physical wellbeing are obvious. However, there are additional benefits that participation in sport can provide that go beyond these known effects. These benefits extend in to more ephemeral areas such as increased self-esteem, development of new skills, and a heightened sense of purpose. These individual benefits can then be translated into benefits on a societal level and it is these effects that are used by policy makers and those involved in sport to champion sport related initiatives. Consider this excerpt from a report on the planned legacy for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London that was published by the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport,

The 2012 Games provide a great opportunity to promote community engagement and bring people together over a national event, helping to empower and embolden communities to achieve what they want to do in their area. More cohesive and proactive communities would be a genuine legacy from London 2012, which would last for generations and would support the creation of the Big Society. We want to ensure that the Games leave a lasting legacy as the most equality-friendly ever2

These larger societal benefits and the mechanisms that allow them to manifest themselves and be transmitted between individuals and groups can be understood to be a part of a concept known as social capital.

A more in-depth examination of the various definitions of social capital will be found later in this paper however in a very brief and rough sense social capital is the capital that is created through social interactions between individuals. In this definition the use of capital is analogous to the use of capital in the term economic capital, as capital is something that is acquired and can be used or spent by whomever possesses it. To put social capital in to the context of sport, observe this passage from a Canadian Sport Policy report published by the Heritage Ministry in 2002 which demonstrates an example of the application and usage of social capital with regards to sport and sport policy,

Establishing sport clubs and organizing events are great training grounds for social action. Social capital is built by learning to organize meetings, negotiate for the use of shared facilities, and deal with expectations, triumphs, and failures 3

In both of these examples of social capital being created through sport the focus is on participation in sport, either playing a sport or involvement in the organization of a sport. These ignore what is arguably the most common involvement in sport for most people and that is the following and spectating of sport. In their work on sport development Houlihan and White quote Putnam, In football as in politics, watching a

team play is not the same thing as playing on a team4. In Putnams opinion this passive relationship with sport is not an interaction capable of creating social capital.

However is Putnams view on following sport correct? And specifically is this view correct within the context of the emergence of the internet and the online communities that have been created as a result of the instant and global communication that it provides. Are the activities of supporting a team or engaging with other fan activities incapable of creating social capital? This dissertation will attempt to answer this question using a case study approach and examining one of these online football fan communities and its participants. Is social capital created for its members?

Online social capital research is like the internet itself, a relatively new phenomenon and research in to social capital online is ongoing. For example studies have been conducted regarding the social capital implications of the use of Facebook by university students 5 or the use of the social networking site MySpace6.

Of Headbands and Heartbreak is a blog devoted to Real Madrid and football in general created in December of 2010. Unlike many football blogs the sites content avoids many of the traditional topics of on-field play, transfers, tactics, or team selection. The blogs focus is very much on everything else related to football. The closest analogy may be to a site devoted to entertainment and pop culture coverage as opposed to sport. Of Headbands and Heartbreaks Manifesto states,

This is the place for silliness, naughtiness, loving man love, the intense academic study of DLD and its permutations, gossip, pictures, gifs, fic and whatever nonsense our highly inventive and disturbing brains can come up with. Hala Madrid!7

Since their founding the creators have fostered a growing readership. They have created a strong and active community fueled by both the creators and reader participation. Their About page lays out some guidelines for commenters stressing politeness and civility as well as a prohibition on any intolerant comments. Again this speaks to the creators desire to create an open and welcoming community8 . It is this fan created and operated website, along with its users that will for the unit of analysis for this research.

This paper will examine the community of readers that currently exists at Of Headbands and Heartbreak to determine if social capital can be created in an online community based on sports fandom as opposed to a more traditional observation of social capital thats related to sport participation. While obviously a more detailed presentation of the data and findings will follow it is reasonable to say that social capital can be created and does exist in an online community and this research will discuss this process as well as what amount of social capital exists.

The following section will examine the literature relevant to this paper and its subject matter.

Literature Review
This literature review will be composed of three sections. The first will be an examination of the concept of social capital as discussed by scholars. As mentioned previously, social capital is a fluid term with different and wide-ranging definitions that can be applicable to a variety of situations. Following this exploration of the definition of social capital there will be a discussion of the research regarding social capital in online spaces and how it manifests itself in these virtual communities. An examination of the research on blogs and blogging communities will then establish context for this specific community being studied. Finally, there will be a brief discussion of online ethnography and the results of this research.

With a firm understanding of the academic literature related to these concepts and fields of study, a precise definition of social capital that can be applied specifically to this research will be created. This will be supported by knowledge of the current research in the field of social capital as well as an understanding of the more general research in to online communities with a focus on ethnography.

Social Capital Dention

When conducting research in to social capital its essential that a clear definition of social capital be established. It seems obvious to state but without such an understanding one cannot measure social capital and considering the relatively

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amorphous definition of the term any definition that is too ambiguous will lead to invalid conclusions. Wendy Stone highlights the importance of a firm understanding of the concept of social capital and the theory behind it. In her work she also states that a clear definition is a must for any social capital research9 and outlines key requirements for successful social capital research. In addition to the importance of a clear definition she specifically mentions the need be aware that what could be termed the symptoms of social capital do not necessarily mean that social capital itself is being created. While these latter concerns apply more to the analysis and discussion of the data, the creation of a definition begins with the literature. However it is important to remember that as Adler and Kwon state there is no theory that can incorporate all the existing theories regarding social capital and transcend their limitations so a a narrow definition that applies to this research is essential10.

Alejandro Portes work provides a good entry point to the concept of social capital with his review of the origin of the term social capital and its current uses. He traces the term to Pierre Bourdieu who saw social capital as the relationships that allow people access to economic capital. Portes continues on to Loury who felt that economic theory ignored the importance of social connections and relationships with what could be termed social capital filling this gap. He then discusses Coleman who defined social capital as the social structures that allow people to create and access human capital 11. Summarizing these findings Portes describes social capital,

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To possess social capital, a person must be related to others, and it is those others, not himself, who are the actual source of his or her advantage. As mentioned before, the motivation of others to make resources available on concessionary terms is not uniform 12

Following his discussion of both the positive and negative aspects of social capital Portes concludes that while social capital cannot fix the larger societal problems that it has been applied to, it can have an effect on the individual. However, he makes it clear that social capital has both positive and negative effects to these individuals 13. When constructing a definition this cannot be ignored and social capital cannot be viewed exclusively as creating positive outcomes.

In his work Bowling Alone, which examines the decline of social capital in the United States during the 20th century, Robert D. Putnam attempts to define social capital in a relatively general sense. He begins with a comparison between social capital and other forms of capital such as physical capital and human capital. He explains that social capital refers to connections among individuals-social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them14. Putnam also discusses the development of the term itself and finds there to have been six separate inventions of the term, again suggesting that this is clearly a complex and wide-ranging subject. Putnam further defines social capital describing it as having both individual and group elements and the importance of connections between both individuals and groups as being essential to strong social capital. He states, Social capital can thus be

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simultaneously a private good and a public good15. He highlights the importance of reciprocity in social capital, where people or groups assist each other with an expectation of this being reciprocated. This includes both specific and general reciprocity where there can be a known exchange or a more open ended exchange. He also introduces the important concept of bonding and bridging social capital which he refers to as inclusive or exclusive. Bridging social capital means bringing together people from different groups whereas bonding social capital is narrower, focusing more on strengthening ties in existing groups 16.

Building on Putnams description of social capital, another important distinction between types of social capital is discussed by Grootaert and van Bastelaer. This distinction is between structural and cognitive social capital. Structural social capital represents the known social structures such as networks, groups, and institutions and their accompanying rules and practices. The second form is cognitive social capital which is made up of the more subjective and intangible elements such as generally accepted attitudes and norms of behaviour, shared values, reciprocity, and trust17. They also identify the various levels of social capital, this research being at the micro level which examines horizontal relationships, which they define as the relationships between individuals and households. While this research will consider both forms of social capital, studying the cognitive social capital of the communitys participants will be primary.

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Adler and Kwon18 have worked to create a definition of social capital through a thorough examination of many of the previous definitions. The results of their work focuses on the idea of goodwill. They maintain that Social capital is the goodwill available to individuals or groups. Its source lies in the structure and content of the actors social relations. Its effects flow from the information, influence, and solidarity it makes available to the actor19 . Their approach is more cognitive than structural and understanding the goodwill that is available to community members will also help understand the reciprocity present in the community and how community members exchange goodwill between each other.

As Putnam discusses, the networks that allow social capital to be created and used are crucial20. Krishna and Schrader provide interesting insights on conducting social capital research with specific reference to networks. They assert that a researcher must understand the networks that the subject group has created and the types of networks present in that community. They also draw on the work of Putnam and his distinction between the horizontal and vertical networks that are involved in the creation of social capital. They stress the importance of having a clear definition of the community itself which they believe is necessary to understand these networks. They advocate the use of maps, diagrams, along with a description of the communitys assets, services, and institutions 21.

Continuing with the networks present in social capital, Cattells studied social capital and its effects on health and well being in impoverished neighbourhoods. They

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examined both the communities and networks present in these neighbourhoods and what constitutes social capital within this context22. This goal was combined with the more general question of its effects on health. Participation in organizations by individuals in these neighbourhoods and the social capital that arises out of those interactions was compared to the benefits of employment. Crucial to building an effective definition of social capital for the context established is the conclusion that social capital can improve quality of life but cannot explain the relationship of poverty to health. In a more general sense they saw the study of social capital as something that helps identify the conditions that contribute to quality of life in a community but can not find answers to the problems faced by that community23 .

A similar, non-online social capital study was conducted by Falk and Kilpatrick. They studied a rural Australian community. Their premise was that by understanding the nature of the community and the interactions between the community members they could see how social capital is created and the processes through which it is created. They also aimed, like Cattell, to use their research to create a definition of social capital and arrived at this,

Social capital is the product of social interactions with the potential to contribute to the social, civic or economic well being of a community-of-common-purpose. The interactions draw on knowledge and identity resources and simultaneously use and build stores of social capital. The nature of the social capital depends on various qualitative dimensions of the interactions in which it is produced, such as

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the quality of the internal-external interactions, the historicity, futuricity, reciprocity, trust and the shared values and norms 24

The expression community-of-common-purpose is an important and attractive element for a definition of social capital, especially as it is a common purpose, or in this case, common interest that unites members of many online communities. Traditional offline geographic or demographic commonalities that can lead to community formation are not necessarily present in an online forum.

In Wasko and Farajs work on the creation of social capital in an electronic message board of a legal professional association their definition of social capital focused on the relationships between the members of a community and the relationship between member and community. They also described relational capital which is important to facilitate actions for individuals within the structure25 and the components of relational capital, commitment, trust, and reciprocity. A similar definition was offered by Beehive, Steinfeld et al. They used surveys to asses the way employees were using the site, their demographic information, and the implications of the site and its usage on social capital. They defined social capital as the resources that derive from the relationships among people in varying social contexts 26

Marques takes an interesting approach to the specific concept of indirect reciprocity . As he defines it, Indirect reciprocity means that those who give or bequest something to a second figure receive a counter gift from a third party to whom they have

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given nothing27 . He also highlights the idea that important to creating this indirect reciprocity in a community are the social mediators in a community. He continues to describe a community where this indirect reciprocity exists and the key to this community is that its participants contribute to the community without a prompt from a specific individual. Online communities fit this description as participants can easily withdraw if they choose to and not fulfill what obligations they may perceive to exist to other participants. However if an online community can create indirect reciprocity then these specific obligations become less important28 and the community can sustain itself and create social capital.

To build on this understanding of the concept of social capital the current research in to social capital and specifically online research will now be examined.

Current Social Capital Research

To begin is a work not specifically related to an existing or specific social network but a more encompassing and general quantitative analysis of the internet and social capital. Wellman et al 29 used the National Geographic Society Survery of 2000 as their data set to study the behaviour of web users and the relationship between this behaviour and social capital. Wellman et ald findings indicated that the internet can both supplement and detract from a users social capital. Internet use itself is not enough to create social capital. They state there are no single internet effects30, it is

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the users behaviour that is essential, to simply observe a online community is not to observe social capital in action.

There are, of course, more in-depth examinations of social capital. The work of Wasko and Faraj 31 was discussed previously. They examined the online discussion board of a legal professional association. In their analysis they applied social exchange theory to the online forum and they found that social capital was created and more specifically relational and cognitive capital was created. Their conclusion was that people derive satisfaction from helping others in these forums because it positively affects their reputation. They also concluded that the individuals who did help others did not expect help in return, a form of the general or indirect reciprocity discussed by Putnam or Marques 3233.

While Thomsen et al. do not specifically use the term social capital they talk about the social bonds formed in an online community. They discussed the criticism of online communities in that they result in weaker connections, or bridging social capital, as opposed to stronger connections or bonding social capital. However they highlighted various studies where users had either formed a personal relationship with someone online, had hosted online forum members offline for a meet-up, and a forum providing job opportunities and social interaction34.

For more recent study into social networks and communities one can look to studies such as Pfeil et al. regarding the social capital of MySpace users by age range.

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Their research lead to the finding that younger users possess higher levels of social capital than older users. The conclusions as to why the level of social capital differs are informative. They cite two factors as primarily responsible for these differences. One concerns user behaviour, in that the younger users take advantage of more features of the site, though they did not determine the reason older users utilize fewer features. The second factor is related to the personal information shared by users. They found younger users more willing to share their feelings and emotions as opposed to older users who were more formal in their behaviour 35.

Research regarding social capital and IBMs internal social networking site from Steinfield et al. has found that internal corporate social networks do have some relationship with social capital though they cannot state that a causal relationship exists. Interesting was their finding that the benefits were most pronounced for those who are younger, new to the company, or geographically far from the company, similar to the results in the examination of MySpace. They recommend more extensive study that that would look into a comparison between those who use social networking sites at work and those who do not.36

Ellison et al. conducted research on the impact of Facebook usage on social capital and self esteem in university students. They used statistical analysis from survey data and determined that Facebook use is positively correlated to helping students create and maintain social capital. They found that Facebook, and networks like it, are most effective in creating and maintaining bridging social capital and have less impact

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on levels of bonding social capital. They do conclude though that it helps maintain bonding social capital while not creating it for its users.37 This echoes the work of Thomson discussed previously.

Hampton and Wellman researched how online interaction supports community and social capital in an actual neighbourhood. While they found the internet and the connections it makes possible have beneficial effects for social capital it is not necessarily general internet use that will be a part of this benefit, but specifically skilled internet usage. Again, as seen previously, the behaviour of users online has a connection to the amount of social capital that is created for those users 38.

Fascinating work has been done by Steinkuehler and Williams. They looked at participants in an online multiplayer game and the community that has arisen through the gameplay and the interactions of the players. They draw on Oldenbergs concept of third places and they frame their research as an attempt to prove these games represent a virtual third place. Roughly, a third place is a place that is not an individuals home or work, that serves a variety of purposes in those communities, such as a port of entry for new arrivals to a community, a place to sort community members into like minded groups and associations, and a place where friendships are established on a neutral ground 39.

They found these games to be the neutral ground that Oldenberg identifies in his work, where the game is a leveler. This is where real world status is no longer

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important for participants, it becomes a meritocracy in a way that most participants do not feel a part of in their day to day lives. This exists even to the extent that participants are disciplined40 for attempting to exercise their real world power in this virtual forum. Much like a traditional third place these games show the participants engaging in conversation with fellow customers in a playful way much as one at a local bar. With regards to social capital they find it to be primarily of the bridging type and not a bonding type. They find this game to be a part of a retribalization through contemporary media41. These online fan communities could very much form the new definition of a third place.

Considering the literature regarding the definition of social capital and the current research regarding social capital online, an appropriate definition of social capital can be established for this research. The essential factors inherent in creating online social capital are user behaviour, and reciprocity along with its associated trust and goodwill that are present in a community-of-common-purpose 42 . Also important to understand is the type of social capita, is it bridging, bonding, or both? By understanding the feelings of the communitys participants towards each other and the types of interactions they have that involve either specific or general reciprocity, an understanding can be gained as to the presence of social capital in this community, if any. This can then be compared to the behaviour of the communitys readers and what relationship exists between the two. This must be prefaced with an understanding of the community being studied and the networks present in that community. Online

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ethnography has been an effective tool in accomplishing this previously and that research and its results will also be reviewed.

To further understand the specific nature of this community, which is blog based, a summary of relevant research regarding blogs and their communities will be presented.

Blogs

Ducate and Lomicka studied the effects of blogging on students who were enrolled in a foreign language class. They were asked to both follow a foreign language blog and later and write their own blog in the language they were studying. Their findings indicate that when choosing a blog to read, their students were attracted to the subject matter covered by that blog and looked for shared interests and hobbies to discuss. Students were also required to comment on their peers posts though they found that the students did not particularly enjoy reading or writing these comments. This was partially due to limitations imposed by the instructors on comment content. While this papers research focuses on users who have chosen to read this blog without any direction from an authority figure, its informative that content attracts readers, and commenting freedom is essential. These two facts which must be kept in mind in the examination of the behaviour of these community members 43.

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Wei discusses the norms associated with blogging in an association of blogs. Her primary finding is that while one can attempt to establish norms and rules regarding the actions of a blog or its participants it is the participants of the community itself who are instrumental in defining the norms of the community44 .

Research on the relationships formed through blogs, comments, and links has been undertaken by Ali-Hasan and Adamic. While their research was based on network analysis of a variety of blogs this initial research was followed by a more thorough look at the relationships formed by bloggers through links or comments and if these relationships extended to offline relationships. They did find that relationships were created through the comments or links between blogs. While this study examines only one blog, the comments section can be examined as an initial entry point for users and user interaction45.

More specific study of the comments section of a blog is the research of Hu et al. They studied the comments section of a blog using in-depth quantitative content analysis of these posts. They aimed to determine if the comments affected the readers perception of the original post and they found that it did 46. Comments cannot be separated from the original post, the thoughts and interactions of the participants of the community shape users perceptions of the content. When examining this blog and its community it is important to understand the norms associated with the community as well as the importance of the comment section for relationship formation which is

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essential to creating trust between readers. Norms and trust are integral components of reciprocity in social capital.

Online/Ofine Ethnogoraphy

Noted social psychologist Gary Alan Fine has written extensively about the role of leisure in peoples lives and the psychology behind the decisions people make when it comes to deciding how to use their leisure time. While he was writing about traditional offline organizations, the concepts apply to online communities as well, which have become a space for leisure47. In his article Mobilizing Fun48 he describes the how of leisure as opposed to the why49 and the way that voluntary associations retain and attract members. This is a process he refers to as the provisioning of satisfaction of fun50. He highlights, knowledgeability, sociability, and identity symbols as essential to a successful volunteer based organization and the importance of particular activities that create sociability. However, sociability is not friendship and all leisure worlds do remain material worlds at their core that require specific resources, whether real or virtual. Identity symbols are specifically important to an online community where the participants level of anonymity allows them to use these symbols to create a persona, ie. the use of a favourite footballers photo as an avatar on a social network.

In another study, Fine used an ethnographic approach, embedding himself within five little league teams for three years to make his observations. He specified this as microethnography51 and stressed the importance of seeing things within the context

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of its mode of transmission, when conducting this kind of research. He describes the development and existence of any small group in a society, such as a Little League baseball team, as an idioculture. In his words, An idioculture consists of a system of knowledge, beliefs, behaviours, and customs, shared by members of an interacting group to which members can refer and employ as the basis of further interaction52

Fines approach is attractive as it is based on a traditional discussion of sport participation and its effects. As the goal of this current research is to understand online sport community participation and its related effects, a similar ethnographic approach, looking at an idiocultue (the blog) is appealing. Seeing the process of Mobilizing Fun for this website will be essential to understanding the community and any social capital that exists within it. Some discussion of ethnography and online ethnography will be presented here and will be continued in the methodology.

In their work on ethnography, Hammersley and Atkinson trace the definition of the term to the 19th century where ethnography referred to work describing a community or culture that was usually foreign to the intended audience. The term evolved to mean, in their words, an integration of both first-hand empirical investigation and the theoretical and comparative interpretation of social organization and culture53. Their further description of ethnography focused the process of ethnography and the data collection methods. This is broken down in to five main features, the importance of in the field research, the central use of observation and conversation with participants, the unstructured data collection, a focus on small cases, and the limited role of

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statistical analysis or quantification. They view ethnography as an open ended and exploratory process. They felt the task is to investigate some aspect of the lives of the people who are being studied, and this includes finding out how these people view the situations they face, how they regard one another, and also how they see themselves.

However this research will not be a traditional ethnography as the community being studied is a blog based online community. The field of online ethnography is growing and the research ongoing in this field as well as some examples of related offline ethnography will be discussed.

Hine examines the history of online ethnography and social research within internet communities beginning in the mid 1990s 54. She discusses the debate between active online participation when conducting research and lurking, where the researcher does not participate or engage with the community but observes passively. She acknowledges lurking as an attractive option but measures this against the experience, knowledge, understanding and testing of research hypothesis and favours active interaction with participants 55.

A virtual ethnographic approach was used in Boschs research on Facebook and its use at the University of Cape Town for teaching and learning. Her definition of virtual ethnography is broader than others, as she explains it, merely draws on the basic principles of ethnography. In her research she was able to describe the strengths and limitations of Facebook for learning purposes by understanding the underlying networks

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and usage patterns of an online community56 . She found that while Facebook is an attractive tool as it appeals to a younger generation, it may not be equipped for learning purposes and her understanding of the network allows for her to cite examples of better equipped networks 57

Leander and McKims work on online ethnography raises some interesting questions with regards to researchers approach to offline and online spaces, as they put it, Re-spatializing the Internets Relation to the Real World. They propose seven different ways offline and online activity and social spaces interpenetrate58. In their summary they discuss the needs of people in online communities and the researchers observing them, to create the distinction between offline and online spaces and how do those shape online and offline practices and identities59. These are questions that must remain at the forefront of the research and it is important to avoid creating this kind of binary distinction especially with regards to social capital, online and offline interactions must be treated as interrelated activity.

In their work with online communities Agneli, Bowl, and Hawk, highlight issues of moderator versus participant, online social cues and the role of authority figures 60. The role of the sites creators/moderators must be considered in the research and how they shape the community61 .

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An ethnographic approach has been used to good effect by researchers both off and online, further discussion of the specific methodological approaches will addressed later.

With a definition of social capital established and an understanding of both the research in to social capital and ongoing research in to blogs and blog communities there is an excellent foundation for this research. This will be combined with an approach based in online ethnography as it suits the aims and goals of describing a community, the networks within it, and most importantly the members of the community.

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Methodology

Research Design

This paper will use an ethnographic approach which is based on a single case study. The case was selected based on what Thomas refers to as a Local Knowledge case,

a local knowledge caseand this will be relevant particularly for the practitioner or student researcher. In ones own place of work, ones placement, or even ones home, there will be intimate knowledge and ample opportunity for informed, in-depth analysis 62

Of Headbands & Heartbreak is a local knowledge case. I was personally found by the blog after I was contacted by their creator about some Real Madrid T-shirts I had designed asking permission if they could post the designs on their site. I obviously agreed and had some correspondence with the creator of the site. When looking for an appropriate case for this research, this site came to mind. After an initial observation of the comments, the blog appeared to have the kind of active community that would be appropriate for this research. I contacted her and she agreed to participate and assist in finding survey and interview subjects. While not the traditional football blog or website it is very much an online community where sport is the common thread bringing people together.
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The work of Androutsopoulos looks at the advantages and drawbacks of an online ethnography based on discourse analysis. While he is focused on research in linguistics his findings on ethnography and online community study can be applied across other areas of study. Importantly he describes how the effectiveness of a combination of both objective and subjective data and the effectiveness of interviews combined with the more systematic approach of discourse analysis can benefit an online ethnography. In addition to this he emphasizes how an online ethnography does not need to claim to be a full ethnography, which fits with the broad definition of what constitutes an ethnography discussed previously. He then details how elements of ethnography can be incorporated in to different types of academic study, an approach that could benefit this research 63.

Considering this current research, a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods will be used. However with the definition of social capital being primarily cognitive and based on more qualitative data, the bulk of the research will be based on qualitative methods.

Research Question

What is the nature of this community and what are the networks present within it?

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Is social capital created through the interactions of football supporters in an online community?

Research Limitations

There are limitations to this type of research that must be discussed, especially within the context of online research.

One limitation that is discussed by Kraut et al. is the lack of a lab setting to verify respondents information and the possibility that participants who are acting anonymously are filling out the survey in a frivolous manner or even attempting to sabotage the research with deliberately incorrect responses 64. However as also mentioned by Kraut et al. using IP addresses to identify unique respondents and a close analysis of the responses can limit this risk65.

Furthermore, Hookway details his experience in using blogs as a source of data for research and the concerns that one has regarding the authenticity of what is published on a blog, and by extension the authenticity of those participating in online research anonymously. He argues that by using anonymity with screen names and created identities it can allow the writer to actually express more honest opinions and thoughts though he also mentions that conversely, there is no way to know that whatever is being presented is not in fact a total fabrication and not just honesty hidden behind a pseudonym. He counters this by discussing the different yet still interesting

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implications of a fictional blog and, more importantly to this paper, that even in a laboratory environment a researcher cannot ensure the truthfulness of the participants 66.

Another limitation specific to online research that has been highlighted is that it excludes those without easy access to a computer67 . It is possible there are community members with limited computer access who would choose to be more involved with site if they had the opportunity.

Data Collection

The research for this report took three forms. The first was a basic quantitative content analysis of the activity on the site for a period of one month, March 2013. This analysis tracked the number of posts on the site and the commenting activity associated with these posts. Tabulations included the number of comments per post, the number of unique commenters per posts as well as the number of comments that were replies/ responses to existing comments and the total number of unique commenters across the month. This is very roughly based on Angeli et al. discussion of Henris 68 content analysis of online comments.

The second part of data collection were interviews coupled with a qualitative online survey component which was an approach recommended by Beck. In her work on an online Israeli support community they detail their approach which first involved

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online observation, followed by content analysis and then offline interviews with participants in the community. As she states,

This article supports the use of qualitative methodology to conduct Internet research based on the integration of data-gathering methods online and offline as the key to achieving rich ethnographic material. There are reciprocal relations and links that exist between the culture of the Internet and between the wider processes taking place in the society69

Related to this approach was the decision to employ a survey. When conducting initial discussions with one of the sites creators and moderators they suggested that more feedback might be acquired with the addition of a survey. She had some experience with this data collection method and online football surveys and felt that some users would be more comfortable with a more passive and anonymous experience. Paldam describes some common issues with social capital related questionnaires. While his work is more focused on quantitative analyses of social capital he believes these issues can be applied to qualitative research as well. The four areas of concern are saliency, goodness, concreteness, and closed versus open questions. More salient questions provide more robust but less comparable answers, goodness is the tendency of respondents to want to be nice and good, and concreteness refers to the fact that more robust answers arise from more concrete questions 70. With this in mind the questionnaire was based around relatively concrete but open ended questions.

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The survey was designed to both gain an understanding of the community and its motivations and behaviours as well as to gather information related to the existence of social capital in the community, specifically reader relationships, and reciprocity. As the survey was suggested in lieu of interviews for those not comfortable with an interview or those wishing to preserve anonymity, no demographic information was requested 71 and the questions that were asked were open ended in an attempt to best replicate the semi-structured interviews. As noted by Gray, open-ended questions allow for much more detailed and revealing answers compared to closed questions 72. Additionally there was an opportunity for respondents to leave an email address for follow up questions. This is another advantage of the open question format that is described by Gray.

Interviews were semi-structured. Gray highlights how semi-structured interviews are ideal for this kind of research as they allow the interviewer to respond to the answers of the interview subject and pursue new avenues of questioning that the interviewer feels are important to the research and could be enlightening 73. Interviews conducted via Skype voice chat, Skype instant messaging, and email. Voice interviews were transcribed after their completion.

For both the survey and the interviews, the sample was a convenience sample made up of volunteers. There are limitations with a volunteer sample, as stated by Coombes, the respondents have chosen to participate in the survey and when analyzing data this must be taken in to account74 . This kind of convenience sampling is

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suitable in an instance such as this where Fink identifies that convenience samples are useful if the surveyor is certain that the responses apply to the target population75. In a case study such as this every respondent is a member of the community and therefore the target population. All participants were informed of their rights with regards to personal information and consent and had the option to withdraw from the study at any time. All names that were obtained from interviewee have been replaced with pseudonyms and pseudonyms were generated for the survey respondents who did not provide any information.

Data Analysis

While the research does have a question at its core, the descriptive nature of this research lends itself to using a grounded approach for analysis. With the qualitative nature of the research and specifically the interviews, the grounded approach allows for the meaning behind the statements of the participants to be examined76.

The responses have been presented in general categories that align with the goals of the research. They progress from questions relating to the community and user behaviour within the community to the more specific analysis of the responses and what they indicate about the amount of social capital present within the community. The discussion and analysis will now follow.

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36

Discussion/Analysis

Presentation of Findings

The initial discussion of the data will begin with a basic analysis of the posts on the blog for a month as well as the corresponding data related to the comments in each post. This was done to establish the level of activity in the comment section, which as discussed 77 is essential to the formation of relationships between readers in a community such as this. The data was taken from the month of March 2013 during which there were 114 unique posts on the site. Refer to this chart (Fig1) for further data related to the posts.

13.00 9.75 6.50 3.25 0 3.65

Posts Per Day Unique Users Per Post

12.45 7.39

6.23

Fig1

Unique users represent the number of individual readers who posted a comment and replies refer to the number of comments which were in response to a comment that was made by another reader. Over this one month period there were 128 different

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unique readers who posted a comment. Nine posts had no comments while the highest number of comments for a single post was 113.

Again, this is a very basic form of quantitative content analysis, however it does show an active community with a range of participants who not only voice their thoughts on the content but respond to the thoughts of others, the very basic form of reader interaction and relationship building.

This analysis will continue with the qualitative discussion of the site, its community, and its users. How long people have been reading the website, how they arrived on the website and the reasons they have stayed on the website will be discussed.

This chart (Fig2) displays a breakdown of how long the questionnaire respondents had been on the site. Please note that all readers were not entirely specific and values have been rounded to the nearest half year.
15 11 8 4 0 6 2 6 Mths Or Less 1 Year 1.5 Years 2 Years 3 Years 5 13 11

Fig2
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When asked how they arrived at the site there were a variety of responses however they can be broken down roughly into two groups. The first group are those who found the site through a search for specific subject matter that the site covers and the second group are those who found the site through a referral from another site.

The first group is significantly larger with 32 out of 37 respondents finding the site through organic methods. These specific topics were mentioned by readers as reasons for reading the site; Football, Real Madrid, the Spanish National Football Team, the 2010 World Cup, Sergio Ramos, Mesut Ozil, Jose Mourinho, Guti, hot men, and hot guys. However this alone does not indicate why readers stayed on the site as their are numerous websites devoted to these topics As discussed previously, the shortest period of time for a reader on the blog was six months. For those who were referred to the site from elsewhere, the source was the blog Kickette, which stopped regular posting in December of 201278.

The respondents answers provided further detail as to why they remained reading the blog. Not all respondents specified why they continued to read the blog but for those who did there were two general answers. The first regards the tone and content of the blog which was praised by the respondents for being fun, entertaining, light, and positive. Two readers specifically said the blog was a welcome contrast from other Real Madrid sites that were more news focused. For these two readers the different tone and approach of the blog compared to a more serious site (one reader

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mentioned ESPN as an example) was an important part of why they remained on the blog and this is consistent with the other less specific comments that reference the tone and attitude of the blog.

Additionally, there were three respondents who read the blog because of their desire to read find a more female-centric approach. Their responses to the question were as follows, Lara, Was searching for blogs about Real Madrid written by women, Sydney, Huge fan of Real Madrid , place where I can discuss the team and as a female, discuss it with other ladies who appreciate the tea and the sport, Megan, Its one of the few communities for female Real Madrid/football fans to enjoy without misogyny/sexism. The blog was created by women and the blogs manifesto promotes a welcoming and tolerant environment so these respondents comments are not surprising. Misogyny remains a massive issue in sport and the discussion of sport. Creating a safe space for women to express their views on sport has been successful in attracting female readers to this blog.

From these responses it appears that the blog has been able to attract readers and create a community, initially through generally organic means. Yet it seems that it is the tone and personality of the site, its content and creators that have kept the respondents reading, generally for over a period of one year.

When examining the responses of those interviewed, how they found the blog and why they continue to read, the answers were very similar to those who completed

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the questionnaire. All of the interviewees have been reading the blog for at least one year with two of them reading for two years. Much like the questionnaire respondents they also found the blog through organic means and enjoyed it enough that they continued to read. Their responses about why they had continued reading the blog again focused on the tone, attitude, and different content of the blog compared to the bigger, more traditional football websites. As reader Chrisitine said, They seemed to like they same sort of things that I do, she continued,

I like that they talk about the guys and what theyre wearing and all the superficial aspects of it, but at the same time, they do watch the games. They know what theyre talking about

In a similar vein Desiree stated it was, Football news with a more female friendly take. These answers continued and provided a more in-depth perspective of the initial feelings readers had about the community, Andrea had this to say about her first impressions, When you look at the people who were posting, it was thoughtful, considered...It seemed like a conversation you would have with someone sitting next to you, or a friend. Jane also enjoyed the tone of the blog and the friendly attitude she found within the community, which was a contrast from other sites she read. These thoughts were echoed by the other interviewees who all appreciated what they found to be an active and positive community that retained their interest after their first visits.

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As seen from Desirees answer, that she enjoyed the female-centric tone of the blog and as discussed in the responses from the questionnaire, the female oriented nature of the blog is very attractive to certain readers. The interviews allowed for more detailed discussion of this topic, for example, from the interview with Desiree who was discussing a response she got from another reader when posting on another football blog, Someone on Dirty Tackle, like literally once said, Get back in the kitchen. This was echoed by Christine who generally described the negative comments from male readers she received on other sites to be, Youre a girl you dont know what youre talking about.

Desiree continued describing the female nature of community of the blog

A blog that specifically follows one football team primarily but will sometimes bring in things from, news from other teams, and that it is meant to be a place for women, primarily, but that its like welcoming to everybody its not like you cant read this site if youre not a girl. But that definitely its run by two women and that there is definitely there is, these players are really cute in addition to the fact that we enjoy the game

Similarly Christine had more to say regarding why the blog appeals to her,

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I wouldnt mind if there were more guys, that would be ok too...but it is ok, I like this blog because it is run by women...men will automatically not care or that you dont understand the offside rule

In the interview with one of the blogs creators, Julie, she identified a lack of a safe space for women to discuss football as one of the driving forces behind creating the site, her experiences on other football sites were similar to the readers.

That's another thing that bothered us about other football sites. If you have a vagina, apparently you must not know about the game and you must also think with it at all times79

However she continued to explain that she was not only worried about sexism from male users but also conflict between female readers,

Second, was the nastiness leveled at WAGs 80. The sheer amount of slut shaming, calling women fat, ugly or whores just because they were dating players makes me ill. Seeing women attacking other women depresses the shit out of me. We have enough problems without tearing each other down. And I hate young women getting into that mindset.

This female directed blog has adopted content that attracts the female fan. The safe space the blogs creators have encouraged and nurtured is equally attractive.

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These examples here of outright sexism and misogyny have stuck with those who have encountered them as one would expect them to. Creating a safe space is essential to the creation of the trust that is such a key component of social capital.

The answers of the interviewees mirror those of the survey participants. The tone and content of the blog were successful in maintaining their readership past the initial visit. Of equal importance was the female friendly space where the members of the community can feel safe to express their opinions without the fear of a sexist comment in response.

As demonstrated, the role of the blogs creators and their position as moderators in the community has been instrumental in the sites success. This was something that was discussed by survey respondents and interviewees. While it was not directly addressed in the questionnaire, some readers felt the need to mention the moderators role without prompting. These responses from the survey lead to additional questions regarding the moderator/creator role to be included in the interviews. For those who mentioned it all of them agreed that creator/moderator role in the community helped create the positive feelings that they associated with community. In her interview Irina described them as being brilliant in what they do and then had this to say about their work on the site when asked directly about them,

Well, they're funny, kind, they stand to what they write. I like it when people can express their opinions. They built this blog from nothing, they look at all aspects

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of Real Madrid really, they can be serious when needed and funny the rest of the time, they really can involve the readers in their posts, they're "close" to them. not like we're posting this and done. that relates back to community as well.

Carol had this to say,

Because of the leading girls approach. You can feel by reading the post they are intelligent, smart, funny, and firs (sic) and foremost totally dedicated to their side. They are hard workers and attract other individuals of the same profile. Ladies are consistent never lose the point, they know exactly what theyre talking about

Other respondents reiterated these thoughts, especially praising the work of the creators in maintaining a friendly atmosphere in the comments and moderating the discussion. In her interview Andrea identified the personalities of the creators as being instrumental to its success and Jane compared them to mothers keeping the house in order. She also singled out one of the creators defending community members during disagreements and maintaining fairness. When asked about the role of the creators Desiree highlighted the existing friendship between the creators as creating the friendly tone that she appreciates,

And I definitely think that there is a sense that like, people who are friends started this blog because they love football and specifically love Madrid, and I think when you have people who are already friends put that out there, it just sort of lends it

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this air of being, like a nice chatty place, and not just like, a random website or message board that people might go on and its kind of faceless

As was discussed by81 82 the role of a moderator in an online environment is crucial. Not only do they curate content, they establish a tone, and in the case of this blog, a safe space, that readers find very appealing.

The second portion of the survey asked respondents to describe the level of participation in the sites community and whether or not their participation had changed since they began reading the site. To determine if readers were participating, they were asked if they posted in the sites comments, which are a feature of every post. This is the base level of active participation, no personal information must be surrendered to comment and any comment can be posted within the commenting rules established by the sites creators. This forum for reader communication is essential to the community and the creation of any social capital.

The first question asked if readers posted in the comments and if so, how often. Of the 36 readers surveyed, 30 of them have posted in the comments. Of this 30, two of them no longer post in the comments and four are very infrequent posters. This leaves 24 of the 36 readers who post on a regular basis. As seen in the examination of the sites content and comments, this still represents only a part of one months unique commenters.

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Of the commenters, when asked if their participation level had changed since joining the site the overwhelming response was yes. The only readers who said it had not, were those who do not comment at all and two readers were began participating in the comments immediately. The remaining respondents all indicated a change in their participation. For most of these readers it was an increase in participation, in a follow-up email to Vanessa, they had this to say about their increase in commenting

At first I did not participate because it seemed like everyone kind of knew each other and I was new to the blog. But then I realized that a lot of these people have never met or solely know each other because of the blog, which gave me confidence in voicing my opinion. It also helped that the blog writers seemed very welcoming and friendly in their posts as well as their follow up comments

This sentiment was echoed by other readers who felt that after reading the blog and not participating, (lurking was the word used by some readers), that their confidence had increased and they felt more comfortable posting their thoughts. Also mentioned by two readers was the yearly La Liga fantasy football competition (which currently features 52 participants 83) as a catalyst for increased participation in the site.

Three respondents said that their level of participation had decreased. One stated that they felt their comments were only repeating what others had said but they still enjoyed reading the comments of others, another gave no specific reason for their decrease in participation and as Alexa states, it seems theres a lot more aggression

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and conflict as their reason for a decrease in participation, though they still read the posts.

Participation levels in the site were also discussed with the interviewees. In her interview Andrea who described herself as an introvert, said that it took her two to three months before she felt comfortable and began to comment. She highlighted what she believes to be a more adult community and how it eliminates the emotional immaturity that comes with being a fan as a contributing factor to her participation in the comments. This was echoed by Christina, its nice having it be mostly adults too.

Jane also began commenting quickly, in her words, I jumped right in. Lisa had similar thoughts as Andrea though she began commenting relatively quickly, within two weeks of first reading the site she started to participate in the comments. As with Andrea, her reluctance to comment immediately was tied to her general behaviour, I listen before I talk in large groups, so it figures that I'd read before I'd write on a website.

Christine and Desiree had very similar experiences when it comes to participation in the comments and the community as a whole, both of them did not comment initially but do so now. Desiress describes herself as a more active participant who comments, a lot, she is active reading other comments and will respond to comments that she finds interesting or is in response to one of her original comments. Christine limits her comments to what she described as the bigger topics.

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The comments section of the blog acts as the initial forum for getting to know other readers of the site. This was discussed by the interviewees. In the interview with Desiree she described this process,

Its generally pretty friendly, and thats one of the things I like a lot about the community, um, is that, for the most part everyone is really really nice. And I guess, like, if I recognize someones user name, Im like, ok, I have a little bit of a sense like, who this person is and their commenting history

In a very similar response, Lisa had this to say, Oh, definitely. I'd say the collection of details we know about each other is pretty random, though, depending on what happens to come up in conversation. Lisa continued by describing what people might know about her from the comments,

If you read my comments, for example, then you could learn that I used to be a competitive sprinter, and I teach high school, and I don't have a high opinion of my boyfriend's boss. I know bits like that about other people- snatches about their hobbies, their jobs, their likes and dislikes

Irina also felt that she had gotten to know some people through their activity in the comments section, even though these were people she would not communicate with outside of this section. While Christine and Andrea did not speak generally to this

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knowledge, they did mention how reading the interactions and conversations in the comments section had lead them to know that the readers were adults and specifically they both mentioned how they had learned that many readers were grad students.

The responses of the readers regarding comments and participation on the blog demonstrate again that by creating a positive and welcoming environment described by readers in the discussion of their reading habits and motivations, you can develop a comfort level that will lead them to active participation in the community. While not all of those questioned do comment and some have decreased their level of participation, to see the majority of the respondents increase their participation is a positive sign towards creating goodwill. This was especially clear in the interviews where all interviewees who were active participants in the site found they were getting to know other readers through what they read and the conversations found in the comments section.

Without reader interaction there is no way social capital can be created and posting a comment and feeling comfortable doing so is the first step towards these interactions. It is the first chance for readers to gain any knowledge about the other readers, limited as such knowledge may be. In the following section these more in depth interactions will be examined.

Readers and interviewees were asked if they had ever been in contact with another reader outside of the site either online and offline, how would they describe

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their relationship with other readers, and about the methods of communication they had used to interact with other readers.

For the original question regarding interaction with other readers outside the site, eight of the 36 questionnaire respondents said they had been in contact with readers outside of the site and of those eight, three readers said they had met other readers in person. Twitter and email were the main methods of interaction between readers outside of the site. For those who had met offline, they met at the Real Madrid matches in the United States. Of the seven interviewees, all of them indicated that they had been in contact with other readers outside of the site, and two of had met another reader offline.

The question asking readers to describe their relationship with other readers was characterized by generally very positive responses. For those who had not been in contact with other readers, many indicated that they had no relationship at all with another reader. However of this group there were also a number of readers, 15 of the 26, who even without direct contact with each other felt there was a relationship to be described. The most common description from these readers was, friendly, along with words such as, cordial, good, jovial, and informal. Two readers did mention that there had been heated interaction and debate in the comments but that overall their feelings were positive.

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Interesting were some of the longer responses, from Kelly, I feel like were friends, yet Ive exchanged virtually nothing with them. We all love Madrid and the boys associated with them. Of, and we love futbol!, from Melanie, They act like family. Football bonds people together., and Allison, Group of friends with the same hobby. While these feelings regarding other readers are just that, feelings, and they do not meet the definition of social capital it does show people who feel positively about a community and with the right facilitation, these passive readers could become more active and begin to interact with other readers.

When examining the responses of those who had interacted with other readers the responses were also very positive. Again things were characterized as friendly, cordial, and fun. Interestingly two more specific answers from readers who had met other readers in person had very different tones. From Alexa,

I feel like the people who have been commenting for a long time are friends of a sort. I enjoy their company online and look forward to the times I get to meet them in real life. The people Ive met are so different from me in so many ways, but theyre awesome to talk to

However, Victoria had a different perspective,

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i dont have a relationship with any of them. i recognise (sic) names, i remember a few details about the people behind those names, but i dont live near any of them and because i dont post on the site any more, there is no relationship at all

Obviously reader interaction and site participation is not sufficient enough to meet the definition of social capital but as can be seen from the thoughts and feelings of the readers, a feeling of community persists. The readers feel positively about other readers even without any interaction. This positivity can be useful in creating social capital among readers as interaction is more likely when goodwill and trust exists.

The interviews allowed for a more in-depth examination of the relationships between the readers and how they felt about each other. All of the interviewees described their feelings about the other readers as generally positive. Andrea described the blog and its community as a team and she continued further, describing her thoughts about the other readers,

Diverse, welcoming, sense of humour, I think those are maybe the best three...its just fun...its fun to read comments from people who post all the time...its fun to read comments from new people. It seems to have a great deal of diversity behind it

She does not communicate with any other readers outside of the site except for one of the blogs creators and those interactions were through Twitter. She highlighted

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the use of screen names as a hindrance to interaction as the anonymity they provided made it difficult to contact other readers, or as she said, you dont want to track somebody down, thats creepy.

Irina characterized her relationship differently. As opposed to Andreas feeling the blog was a team, Irina focused more on the specific, more personal relationships she had formed with readers from the site. She mentioned readers that she had met through the site by name and explained that she now communicated with them through Twitter and email. Even with her more personal approach she still had good feelings about the community as a whole, while at HB&HB you've those people you just know because they're always around, and all the insider jokes. She contrasted this with another Real Madrid blog where she found its more formal tone made it difficult to create the type of community shes found on HB and HB.

When she was asked to describe her relationship with the other readers, Lisa had an interesting response,

To me, chatting on a website is like chatting with people on an airplane- striking up a conversation with a bunch of strangers to have some fun. Sometimes they're deep conversations, sometimes they're small talk... I'd say my relationship with the other readers is generally friendly. I'm not super close to anyone on the site, but I like to talk to most everyone

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In a similar vein, Jane compared her relationship to that of colleagues in a workplace, placed together through a common circumstance though not necessarily with the depth of friendship that one finds through more natural means.

Christina and Desiree had very similar thoughts. They both found the readers to be friendly, and both felt that the common interest in Real Madrid and the specific way this manifests on HB and HB defined their relationships with the other readers. Desiree felt that this was partially a result of what she described as the self-selected nature of the community and the fact that people want to be here. As she described when discussing another football blog, people get so angry that someone is talking, like, about something that you dont like, that you have to come and like comment.

Any negative feelings about the readers and the community expressed by the interviewees were related to disagreements in the comments section. In her discussion of the community Irina talked about the rude people who had been a part of the community. She felt that those rude participants did usually leave the blog and believed their presence was more symptomatic of the internet as a whole, They're everywhere. Desiree found things could get heated between readers in the comments section though she believed this was due to specific content related to Real Madrid. Lisa echoed these sentiments,

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I've chimed in about everything from "the great goalkeeper debate" to the cuteness of Fernando Torres. So the level of seriousness varies, and the potential for tempers to flare varies

These are relatively minor issues for these readers as they are established and confident members of the community. However, these debates and arguments in the comments section could discourage new readers from continuing to read the site or making the choice to participate in the comments. As found in the definition of social capital used for this research, social capital has both positive and negative effects

Overall these interviewees have positive feelings about the community and its participants. They find the other readers to be friendly and they are interested in reading their thoughts through the comments section. Desirees comment about the community being self-selected is informative. Similarly, Irinas belief that the rude people leave the blog seems to reinforce this idea. This again speaks to the general tone and attitude of this website or any website. Readers do self-select and to create a healthy and vibrant community a sites creators/moderators must make an effort to create an environment where users do choose to be there.

The final series of questions on the questionnaire were designed to be the most specific in determining the amount of social capital that has been created as a result of the community and the interactions amongst the readers of this site. In the first of these questions respondents were asked if they have ever helped another reader or been

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helped by another reader and in the second question respondents were asked about any in-person meetings between readers. This had been partially covered previously but this question asked for further detail regarding those meetings.

The first question cuts to the core of the concept of social capital, and specifically reciprocity. Simply interacting and talking with other readers is not enough to qualify as social capital, those relationships and friendships are important in the creation of social capital but it is when the more transactional, exchange based interactions occur that social capital is created.

Of the 37 responses, 24 of them reported that they had no interaction with another reader where they helped someone or they were helped themselves. These were readers who generally had very little to no interaction with other readers and described their relationship with the others as non-existent or insignificant. It should be noted that one respondent did answer that they had helped other readers and been helped but they specified they had done this on another site. Robyn, Not yet! expressing a willingness to participate in the future.

For the 13 respondents who did report that they had helped another reader or been helped, there were a variety of ways in which these acts manifested themselves. The size and nature of these interactions were generally smaller and less involved, though some of them formed deeper connections with more involved commitments.

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The most basic of these interactions were focused on topics relating to the sites content, Real Madrid/football. These minor acts included posting score updates for a match for other readers, translating a Real Madrid related video that was not in English for other readers, and one reader who said they found the posts helpful in finding other stories and content both football related and not football related. The most serious and involved of these actions relating to Real Madrid/football was from Sydney who needed assistance purchasing tickets for a match. They used the comments section to solicit advice from other readers who had experience with this. Sydney was successful, readers commented/helped on where, how and why and gave their experiences buying.

When moving away from Real Madrid/football topics, the topics were the kind of general problems that one might encounter on a day to day basis. Some were mentioned specifically and some were more general. Other readers provided more detail, one reader mentioned they had asked about travel and been helped by a fellow reader and Vanessa described their experience,

I have given and received advice about various things not relating to soccer. For example, another reader was experiencing a bad breakout and I suggested something that would work.

One specific incident was mentioned by two separate readers on, both sides of helping and being helped. From Elizabeth and their response to the question,

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Usually just support or advice. One reader tweeted that her dad got into a terrible accident and was in critical condition. We gave her support and checked on her via Twitter. Not just me but other HB readers as well.

One reader tweeted on Twitter that she needed to help someone sell concert tickets. I bought them for my kid. We helped each other out.

From Sara, when asked the same question, I nearly lost my father a year ago and the support I got from the people who I met through this site was absolutely amazing.

This is the most striking example of the creation and use of social capital found in the questionnaires. A community providing support to a fellow member when they needed it the most. This is an example of general reciprocity as this community member received support without asking specifically for help. While this interaction did not take place within the website itself the support she received from the other members is a result of her participation in the community. By going past the discussion in the comments section and creating relationships with fellow readers on another network with a more personal connection, in this case Twitter, she was helped in a meaningful way totally unrelated to Real Madrid or football.

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Alex had this to say when asked about helping another/being helped by another reader, Now that Ive met some of them in person, yes. I think becoming friends has led to helping each other through even the most trivial of lifes real problems. This leads to the final question regarding in-person meetings between readers.

There were only four individuals who reported that they had met another reader in-person. As previously mentioned, attending a Real Madrid match was the catalyst for all four of those meetings. For one of those readers no relationship continued after this initial meeting but for the other two, friendships formed as a result of these meetings. Alexa describes their experience meeting other readers, I met two of the regular commenters before I was aware they were on the blog and liked them immediately. I now hang out with some of them regularly, which is great.

There was another group of readers who had not met any other readers but were open to the prospect of in-person interactions. Six readers indicated that they would like to meet other readers but had not yet been able to do so. Their answers included; Unfortunately not, Not yet!, and Not yet. but I hope to. Two respondents went in to more detail when describing their desire to meet other readers. From Elizabeth,

No but I wish I could! We are from all over the world, and from different time zones, so face to face isnt easy, but I like watching matches together with them, but mostly via Twitter

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In a follow up email with Taylor, they had this to say when asked why she wanted to get more involved with the site (there was no specific question regarding meeting other readers),

I can list names, teams and games and these people GET it. I have no interest in American football or basketball or baseball. I really can only watch hockey and tennis besides European soccer and I don't care much about who wins - nothing as to how I feel about ES. This may sound bizarre but I would love to get to know some of the people on the blog and then plan going to a game with them sometime - not it Europe but perhaps when RM is touring the US. That would be a blast...

From Sara, Not yet! Simply due to distance, but I wouldn't hesitate to meet any of them.

Two of these readers highlighted distance as a key factor in the lack of an inperson meeting. Another reader said that the blog was based in New York City and they were not in that area. Clearly geography is an obvious issue and a barrier for in-person meetings of participants of online communities and the extent to which this can be addressed is limited.

The third group of readers are those who had not met any other readers and expressed no interest in doing so. This constitutes the majority of the respondents, 27 of

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37. These were unsurprisingly also the same readers who had not been helped or helped another reader. For those who have limited interactions with other readers and are not generating social capital for others or themselves their desire to meet others outside of the site is very limited. However the interviews, as opposed to the questionnaires, revealed stronger signs of social capital in the community. All of these interviewees reported some kind of interaction where social capital was created or used.

Andrea had relatively limited interactions meeting the definition of social capital, and incidents where reciprocity was involved. She noted two examples. The first was various instances of her answering questions people had posted in the comments and then having a question answered by another reader when she had posted a question. The second example was when she submitted a photo she had found to the sites creators and subsequently the photo was posted on the blog.

Lisa had very similar experiences. She translated and transcribed a Spanish language commercial in to English, and was involved with the general behaviour of the community that includes info-sharing and advice-giving. Christina asked a question in the comments section regarding a photo that had been posted on the site and the creator of the site responded to her with the answer to her question. Jane provided advice to another reader who was looking for assistance with regards to attending a match in Madrid, as Jane had lived there and been to matches.

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SA talked about the supportive nature of the community and the assistance the readers can provide each other,

Its been a long week at work, Ill like, sometimes put in a sympathy comment, um I know, they posted right after the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman verdict, um I talked a little bit about that, and that would probably be the most, the most tangential, um and thats the one that stood out in my head

She continued and did say that discussion of non-football topics was not the norm but that if topics outside of the sites content do arise its an organic result of the ongoing conversation in the comments.

Reader Irina had more extensive reciprocal interactions with other readers and mentioned this instance where she reached out to one of the creators of the site, Julie

I've been talking more to Julie, to be honest. For example, she even took her time to help me out with some stuff while I was in New York...I asked her for some good places to go to and she took her time to send me some links for some places :) She asked me for details so she sent me quite a lot

Irina has submitted personal photos to the blog from her trips to watch Real Madrid play live and a translation of a German article regarding the team into English. She also remembers assisting a reader who was looking for help in the comments, But

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I remember how I once advised one of them to drink some lemon water against hangover and they did actually.

Only two of the interviewees had met another reader in person, Desiree attended a Real Madrid match in the United States and went with another reader. Jane also attended a match and met up with other readers, including one of the sites creators. She has since formed friendships with these people. For those who hadnt met another reader, all but one of the other interviewees said they would like to meet other readers outside of the site. Christine almost met with some readers at a match, Would go to a meet-up, I was gonna go see them and there was talks of meeting up...I made other plans so I didnt go...I do like the idea. Irina said she would also attend a meet-up though she expressed concerns about her age, she feels she is younger than most of the readers.

Combined with the responses from the questionnaires it is clear that there is a desire from a segment of the community for contact with other readers outside of the site. Matches have proved a strong impetus for readers to meet and events such as that could be used for future in-person meetings. These events can create meaningful relationships for the participants and would certainly contribute to increased social capital

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With this discussion of the research findings complete, what answers have been provided to the research questions, and how do these answers relate to the theory that has been discussed in the literature review.

Analysis of Findings

The first research question, what is the nature of this community and what are the networks present within it, is essential to finding the answers to the second question, is social capital created through the interactions of football supporters in an online community.

Considering the responses of the participants, there is no question that a strong and active community exists on Of Headbands and Heartbreak. From the initial examination of the comments section for a month, its clear that there is active participation from a variety of individuals. As Hu et al. discussed, the comments are integral to not only the community but they also essentially become a part of the original posted content84 .

Moving to the initial discovery of the site by community members and the reasons readers chose to continue reading the site it was the content and tone of the blog as well as the female-oriented nature of the content that was successful in attracting and maintaining the readers interest. The list of topics that drew them to the site provided by some readers is relatively general. These interests could lead them to

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any number of Real Madrid or football related sites and as discussed by Ducate and Lomicka, subject matter is essential in this initial attraction to a blog85. However, as discussed by Oldenburg86 and more specifically in an online context by Steinkuehler and Williams 87, this site specifically provides a third place in a way that other sites do not. It provides a welcoming environment where the lighter tone is appreciated. More specifically, this site in particular is a neutral ground in a way that other sites are not. On this site female readers do not feel discriminated against due to their gender. On other sites, some of the respondents already felt at a disadvantage due to their gender, at the very least the members of this community begin on even, or neutral, footing. As will be discussed later, this is essential for the goodwill and trust necessary to build social capital. Relevant to this section however, are the comments of the readers that served to underline the idea of a community-of-common-purpose.88 This idea was integrated into this papers definition of social capital. Unquestionably this criteria for social capital has been met as the readers expressed a desire to not just share an interest but a specific way of discussing and exploring that interest.

As discussed by some of the respondents, a primary reason for the content, tone, and female-friendly nature of the site is attributed to the work of the blogs creators and the community they have tried to create. This relates to several of the works discussed in the literature. Agneli, et al.89 discussed the importance of the moderator in an online discussion and this was confirmed by the responses of the community members who felt that the sites creators were instrumental in establishing the friendly, conversational tone of the site. Some specifically mentioned their work in the comment section as

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important to maintaining a relatively congenial atmosphere. More generally the creators can function as the social mediators that Marques references in his work on social capital and reciprocity, and their attitudes and behaviour can influence the community to help create the indirect reciprocity he discusses 90. Regardless of the implications on reciprocity, its clear the creators/moderators of the site have strongly contributed to the community and have established norms and created goodwill, both of which are essential to the creation of social capital. From a general community standpoint its clear that theyve also been instrumental in the mobilizing of fun that Fine describes in providing the space and resources that are required for leisure and a community around a leisure activity.

Using the comments as an indication of community participation, most of those whose participation level had changed had increased their level of participation within the site. While this does not apply to all of the respondents, as there are those who have never commented or participated, those who have, found they became more comfortable and confident in the community. Considering this difference, there is very much a connection to the behavioural based theories of social capital in online communities that was discussed in the literature. Those who did not comment or participate in the blog, were also those who had little or no relationship with the other readers. This aligns with the work done with the National Geographic data91, the discussion of social capital on MySpace 92, and the research on IBMs social network93. This was further confirmed in the discussion of the comments with the readers of the site where those who did comment looked forward to reading the thoughts of others.

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That they had learned personal details about each other as a result of the comments, which as discussed by Ali-Hassan and Adamic94, is where readers can begin to form relationships, and it is these relationships, both negative and positive that are essential to social capital.

The relationship between readers was the next subject examined. The implications of these relationships on social capital became clearer as this was the first area where the amount of goodwill and trust between readers could be measured. The research indicates that to some extent this goodwill and trust does exist. While direct contact between readers, especially survey respondents was mostly non-existent, that did not stop readers from expressing a desire to meet other readers or to characterize their relationships positively even though they had not contacted any other readers. This marked an interesting and unexpected departure from some of the literature which had not mentioned this kind of hidden desire to connect with other readers. It could be seen as almost a pre-bridging phase in the development of online social capital where the goodwill exists yet the networks as they are constructed are hindering these connections. This again relates back to the research into behaviour and its affects on social capital. While some users feel more comfortable making these connections, other more passive users may need encouragement or forums to interact with other readers. A social network such as Twitter, which appeared to be the most common forum for reader interaction outside of the site could be utilized as a means to establish these connections and networks.

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To continuing the discussion regarding the readers relationships with each other, all of the comments were not universally positive. Some indicated they had no relationship with the other readers and some highlighted the negative aspects of their relationship, with specific mention of disagreements in the comment section. As one interviewee discussed, there was a feeling that those who had a negative experience had left the blog, or at the very least they were no longer participating. As mentioned by Portes, social capital is both positive and negative.95 This also shows the exclusive nature of these communities 96. While most readers highlighted the inclusive nature of this community, especially for women, there are still elements of exclusivity. An attempt to understand the feelings of those who had left the site and what experiences lead to them making that decision would be beneficial to understanding both sides of the social capital present within the community. Generally the readers of the site perceive their relationships as positive, if not especially meaningful, suggesting that any social capital that does exist would be primarily of a bridging nature.

There is no question that goodwill does exist between the members of the community, even if some of the readers are not aware that others share their feelings towards each other, especially relating to interacting with other readers. Understanding the trust and reciprocity present in the community is essential to identifying if there is social capital present in this community. This was accomplished in the research by discovering and describing the more exchange based interactions as well as the inperson meetings of readers. As stated in this researchs definition of social capital, reciprocity must be present for social capital to exist and there are certainly incidents of

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reciprocity present in this community. The most common incidents are smaller actions such as advice and support given in the comment section and readers providing an unsolicited contribution to the site for the other readers. This is interesting to compare with Wasko and Farajs work97 where they also explored community participants providing unsolicited support in an online forum. Again it appears that online community members will provide assistance and content to others with no expectation of receiving a similar favour in return. For example, Irina did not say that her submission and then the subsequent posting of photos from a Real Madrid match she attended came with an expectation that others would share their photos from other matches. No survey respondent or interviewee who indicated they had contributed to the site or helped another reader expressed the notion that they expected anything in return for their actions. What reciprocity exists in this community is certainly general and indirect. This concept is discussed by Putnam, and, Marques 9899 , whose discussion of indirect reciprocity and its lack of prompts seem to match the reciprocity seen here. Especially important is the ease in an online community of not fulfilling any perceived obligations where there is virtually no face-to-face interaction.

These are again the bridging type of social capital exchanges. It should be noted that these bridging/weak tie interactions may still have a meaningful effect. This was evidenced by Saras receiving support from the community after a health scare with their father. The more bonding interactions appeared to have occurred in the in-person meetings at Real Madrid matches, which confirms the research that while these were a very small number of the respondents, they did state that they were able to form

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friendships that extended outside of the site, the kind of closer relationships that characterize bonding social capital. These meetings also indicate a level of trust, as stated by some readers and discussed in the methodology, as there is suspicion about the motives and identities associated with online interactions. Taking the step to actually meet another reader takes a level of confidence that implies trust, and that is essential to the creation and existence of social capital.

When finally answering the question if social capital is created in an online community, the answer is yes. There are some caveats to this conclusion. The sample being worked with is limited and it does not allow for any generalization past this case (though none was being attempted) and even within this sample the amount of community members who could be said to possess and be involved in the creation of social capital is limited. However it does exist and it is clearly possible for social capital to be created in an online community such as Of Headbands and Heartbreak as it has been demonstrated that trust, goodwill, reciprocity do exist. Additionally it has been seen that behaviour is a key element in the creation of social capital online.

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Conclusion

If social capital can be created online in this context then further research is required with a more extensive sample that can produce more generalizable results. This research should focus on behaviour and its implications on online social capital in these types of communities. Further research is also required in the phenomena of female focused sport communities and the inherent misogyny and sexism found the traditionally male dominated forums. While not the focus of this research the findings on this issue were fascinating and worthy of more careful examination.

To ignore online communities and their benefits would be a mistake by sport organizations and policy makers when considering the benefits of sport participation, and in this case, fandom. The effects of these communities are no less real than those where people meet to play a game.

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73

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Alejandro Portes, Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology, Annual Review of Sociology 24: 1-24 (1998): via, http://digicult.net/moss_texts/ SOCIALCAPITAL_ItsOriginsandApplicationsinModernSociology.pdf, accessed August 2013, p. 3-6.
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Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 20.

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Vikcy Cattell, Poor people, poor places, and poor health: the mediating role of social networks and social capital, Social Science and Medicine 52, 10 (2001): via http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/pii/S0277953600002598, accessed May 2013, p. 1503.
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Ibid., p. 1514.

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Rafael Marques, Reciprocity Thesis Revisited, in Networks, Trust, and Social Capital: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations from Europe, edited by Sokratis M. Koniordos (Aldershot: Ashgate Pub, 2005), p. 40.
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Ibid., p. 40.

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30 31 32 33 34

Ibid., p. 451. Wasko and Faraj, Why Should I Share? Putnam, Bowling Alone Marques, Reciprocity Thesis Revisited

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Ibid., p. 904. Falk and Kilpatrick, What is social capital?.

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46

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Gary Alan Fine, Mobilizing Fun: Provisioning Resources in Leisure Worlds, Sociology of Sport Journal 6, 4 (1989) via http://www.rpgstudies.net/fine/mobilizing_fun.html
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Ibid., p. 320 Ibid., p. 322

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Ibid., p. 734.

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54

Christine Hine, "Virtual ethnography: Modes, varieties, affordances." The SAGE handbook of online research methods (2008): via http://web.media.mit.edu/~kbrennan/mas790/02/Hine,%20Virtual %20ethnographies.pdf, accessed May 2013, p. 258-59.
55 56

Ibid., p. 262-63.

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57

Ibid., p. 197.

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59 60

Ibid., p. 223.

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61 62

Ibid.

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Agneli, et al., Content Analysis of Online Discussion

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77

77
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Kickette, Bye Bye Bitch Face, http://www.kickette.com/kickette-hq-bye-bye-bitch-face/, accessed September 2013.

79

I also had to include the second part of this quote here, (Guys think with their dicks all the time and no one ever questions their knowledge of the offside rule. Sheesh.)
80 81 82 83

Wives and Girlfriends of footballers Agneli et al., Content Analysis. Rafael Marques, Reciprocity Thesis Revistied.

Of Headbands and Hearbreak, HB & HB Fantasy Football League Week Three Results , http://headbandsandheartbreak.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/hb-hb-fantasy-football-league-week-threeresults/ accessed August 2013.
84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99

Hu et al., Comments Oriented Blog Summarization. Ducate and Lomicka, Adventures in the blogosphere. Oldenburg, Our Vanishing Third Places. Steinkuehler and Williams, Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name. Falk and Kilpatrick, What is social capital?. Agneli et al., Content Analysis. Rafael Marques, Reciprocity Thesis Revistied. Thomsen et al., Ethnomethodology. Pfiiell et al., Age differences in online social networking. Steinfeld et al., Bowling Online. Ali-Hasan and Adamic, Expressing Social Relationships. Portes, Social CapitalL Its Origins Putnam, Bowling Alone. Wasko and Faraj, Why Should I Share?. Putnam, Bowling Alone. Rafael Marques, Reciprocity Thesis Revisited.

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