Beyond the spotlight: unveiling self-presentation strategies of elite Turkish female athletes on Instagram

This study aims to reveal the self-presentation strategies of elite Turkish female athletes on Instagram. Drawing on Goffman’s self-presentation theory, the research also explores how gender typing across different sports may shape athletes’ self-presentation strategies. By examining the use of social media by 44 elite Turkish female athletes in 15 different sports, this study provides clear evidence that elite athletes utilise Instagram for both front-stage and back-stage presentations by employing six self-presentation ­strategies (information-sharing, match or competition-related information-sharing, behind-the-scenes, interaction, self-promotion, and opinion-sharing) when sharing content on the platform to convey these different aspects of their athletic lives. The research findings also reveal that, in ‘masculine’ sports, female athletes tend to share more back-stage performance footage, whereas within ‘feminine’ branches of athletics, there appears to be a notable inclination towards higher utilisation of the front-stage category.