Tracking the Gaze: Visual Attention on an International Federation's Instagram Posts

Abstract: Communication and sports research has explored the objectification of athletes within the media, particularly related to beach volleyball, where the uniforms and camera angles have encouraged sexualization. However, limited research on this subject has investigated how consumers actually look at and potentially objectify social media images of beach volleyball athletes. This experiment utilized an eye-tracking methodology to evaluate how much visual attention is dedicated to male and female beach volleyball athletes in active and passive poses as displayed on the social media app Instagram. Results revealed that the majority of visual attention, regardless of the athlete's gender or athlete's body position in the image, was dedicated to the body of that athlete, but this was further exacerbated when the athlete was in an active offensive position. Implications of these findings are discussed related to objectification and how sports organizations are framing athletes on social media.