The relationship between social media, exercise motivation and exercise behaviour in physically active men.

Area of Science:

• Sports and Exercise Science
• Digital Health
• Social Media Studies

Background:

• Fitness social media is increasingly popular.
• Its impact on male exercise motivation and behavior remains understudied.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between fitness social media use and exercise motivation and behavior in men.
• To explore the relationship between overall social media use and exercise behavior.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study design.
• 224 male social media users in the UK completed questionnaires.
• Assessed overall, platform-specific, and fitness social media use, alongside exercise motivation, frequency, and history.

Main Results:

• Fitness social media use positively associated with exercise frequency (sessions/week).
• Fitness social media use not significantly associated with exercise history (duration).
• Overall social media use negatively associated with exercise history.
• Fitness social media use more strongly linked to autonomous exercise motivation.

Conclusions:

• Fitness social media may encourage short-term exercise engagement but not necessarily long-term adherence.
• The relationship between fitness social media and exercise motivation is intricate and possibly reciprocal.