How are major gambling brands using Twitter?

James, Richard J. E.; Bradley, Alex

Abstract

This paper is the first to compare how major gambling brands are using the popular social media platform Twitter, looking at how gambling brands vary in the frequency of their messages, the content of their tweets and engagement with their Twitter activity. 63,913 tweets were collected from seven well-known British gambling brands (Bet365, Betfair, Betfred, Coral, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power, William Hill) and their associated Twitter accounts (Total Number of Accounts = 22) via the Twitter Application Program Interface (API) on the 1 August 2018. Companies varied in their approach to Twitter, some posting from a single account whereas others segmented their tweets by topic or purpose. Frequency analysis of tweets showed that on average major gambling brands tweeted anywhere between 89 and 202 tweets a day. Sentiment analysis of tweets showed a positivity bias with the language in tweets being associated with positive emotions like anticipation, trust and joy. Paddy Power, Bet365 and Coral produced the content that received the highest number of likes or shares from other twitter users. This study highlights the extent to which companies are using Twitter; followers could potentially be receiving hundreds of messages per day.

Citation

James, R. J. E., & Bradley, A. (2019). How are major gambling brands using Twitter?. International Gambling Studies, 19(3), 451-470. https://doi.org/10.1080/14459795.2019.1606927

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 7, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Apr 28, 2019
• Publication Date: Apr 28, 2019
• Deposit Date: Apr 26, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 29, 2020
• Journal: International Gambling Studies
• Print ISSN: 1445-9795
• Electronic ISSN: 1479-4276
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 19
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 451-470
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14459795.2019.1606927
• Keywords: Twitter; Advertising; Gambling; Betting; Sports
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1844833
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14459795.2019.1606927
• Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Gambling Studies on 28/04/2019], available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14459795.2019.1606927
• Contract Date: Apr 26, 2019