Health-related messages about physical activity promotion: an analysis of photographs on social networking sites of universities

The main aim of this study was to examine how different physical activity domains are represented on the official social media sites of Spanish universities, through a content analysis of the photographs. Our results show that the representation of different physical activity domains is not balanced. While the analysed images do promote a message of gender equality in sedentary and leisure time physical activity behaviour, pictures illustrating active commuting and disabled groups were under-represented. We conclude that Internet-based physical activity promotion in university settings must to be guided by the principles of ‘health-promoting universities’ in the sense of promoting a comprehensive view on healthy behaviours in every action carried out with the university community, and in particular including diversity as a norm rather than the exception. Professionals should be aware of their responsibility in the design of the built online environment and their influence on the welfare of the university community.