Benefits of an organisational weblog in relationship building in professional sports Dittmore et al. (2008) sought to gain a greater understanding of how sport organisations used a social media tool, the weblog, in their day-to-day communications. Their study assessed whether readers of a Major League Baseball team’s official weblog perceived the team’s weblog as an effective form of two-way communication between the team and its fan base. The researchers used scales developed by Kelleher and Miller (2006) to measure the presence of conversational human voice (CHV) and communicated relational commitment (CRC) elements within the weblog. Both measures have been shown to be positively related to relational outcomes such as trust of the organisation, satisfaction with the organisation, and commitment to the organisation. CHV was operationalised as a way to ‘emphasize human communication attributes capable of being conveyed in a computer-mediated context’. CRC was operationalised as a way to ‘emphasise an expressed commitment to building and maintaining a relationship and underscore the nature and quality of the relationship’. Respondents to the study indicated the team’s official weblog scored highly in both CHV (M = 5.37, SD = 0.92 on 7-point scale) and CRC (M = 5.08, SD = 1.29 on a 7-point scale). This emphasises the commitment the organisation has to building and maintaining a relationship with its publics. Sport organisations are challenged by an environment in which publics have much greater access to information and rumours and fan attendance fluctuates greatly based on an organisation’s on-field performance. Establishing honest, trustworthy and frequent communication with key publics can help an organisation navigate through variations in the demand for its product. Researchers have consistently noted the organisational advantages of creating a long-term commitment (Milne and McDonald, 1999). Weblogs would appear to be an effective tool in generating that commitment. In addition to evaluating the two-way relationship benefits of the organisational weblog, the researchers developed a profile of readers of the weblog, effectively creating an online public. Two significant findings regarding the online public were the levels of fan attachment the respondents had and the overall similarities in responses from fans living in the team’s home market and those living abroad. First, fans were highly identified with both the team (M = 6.42, SD = 0.77) and the sport (M = 6.11, SD = 0.64), but not as much with individual players (M = 2.82, SD = 1.15). This finding suggests fans of professional sport clubs will continue to consume content from the organisation despite the player makeup of the team. Second, the ability of a weblog to reach a diverse audience quickly and inexpensively makes this form of communication beneficial for sport organisations seeking to maximise return on their marketing communication efforts. Scoble and Israel (2006: 27) noted that weblogs are the ‘lowest-cost communications channel, you can reach thousands, perhaps millions of people for an investment of a few cents and some personal time. Blogs are infinitely more efficient than any other corporate communications medium’. Given the increasing emphasis in the sports industry on globalising brands, the weblog’s ability to reach anyone worldwide is attractive. Overall, this case study would lend support to the notion that an organisational weblog is a highly effective social media tool to develop two-way symmetrical relationships with one of its core publics, its fan base. Source: From ‘The use of an organizational weblog in relationship building: The case of a major league baseball team’, International Journal of Sport Communication, 1 (3), 384–97 (Dittmore, S.W., Stoldt, G.C. and Greenwell T.C. 2008). Adapted with permission. Discussion questions 1 Who is the targeted public for a professional team’s weblog? Casual fans? Highly identified fans? 2 What should you do with comments on the weblog which portray the sport club in a negative light? 3 What barriers exist for organisations considering developing their own weblog?