Examining United States Professional Women’s Volleyball Entities Use of Twitter for Social Media Marketing and Brand Development

2018 dissertation for MSc. International Business Management. Selected by academic staff as a good example of a masters level dissertation. The usage of social media as a sport marketing medium has been on the rise over the past decade. Numerous organisations, athletes, and coaches are putting a higher degree of emphasis on reaching their fans and consumers through social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, rather than more traditional mediums. Previous research has stressed consumers transition from traditional marketing media to online and more readily accessible options. A majority of studies focus on the social media marketing of mainstream professional sport, as well as household name professional athletes, but few focus on a niche sport such as professional women’s volleyball. This research aims to observe how professional volleyball organisations in the United States are choosing to market through the social media platform Twitter. Furthermore, it aims to gather an understanding of brand development practices that could equate to consumer’s brand awareness. Through answering this research question, marketing and brand development implications are revealed regarding professional women’s sport. The research question is answered through the use of a qualitative content analysis of selected volleyball organisations Twitter accounts. A categorical codebook was created based on the research question of this thesis and previous literature. Data collection took place August 8th, 10th, and 12th of 2018. The first data tweets collected started on the 6th of August 2018 and were originally planned to scale back 100 tweets for each Twitter account. Once the data collection was complete, a total of 235 textual tweets were extracted for analysation. The tweets were categorised based on the codebook criteria created for this specific study. Following the categorisation marketing and brand development trends emerged. As a result, the research question was answerable

High treatment uptake in human immunodeficiency virus/ hepatitis C virus-coinfected patients after unrestricted access to direct-acting antivirals in the Netherlands

Background The Netherlands has provided unrestricted access to direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) since November 2015. We analyzed the nationwide hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment uptake among patients coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HCV. Methods Data were obtained from the ATHENA HIV observational cohort in which >98% of HIV-infected patients ever registered since 1998 are included. Patients were included if they ever had 1 positive HCV RNA result, did not have spontaneous clearance, and were known to still be in care. Treatment uptake and outcome were assessed. When patients were treated more than once, data were included from only the most recent treatment episode. Data were updated until February 2017. In addition, each treatment center was queried in April 2017 for a data update on DAA treatment and achieved sustained virological response. Results Of 23574 HIV-infected patients ever linked to care, 1471 HCV-coinfected patients (69% men who have sex with men, 15% persons who [formerly] injected drugs, and 15% with another HIV transmission route) fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Of these, 87% (1284 of 1471) had ever initiated HCV treatment between 2000 and 2017, 76% (1124 of 1471) had their HCV infection cured; DAA treatment results were pending in 6% (92 of 1471). Among men who have sex with men, 83% (844 of 1022) had their HCV infection cured, and DAA treatment results were pending in 6% (66 of 1022). Overall, 187 patients had never initiated treatment, DAAs had failed in 14, and a pegylated interferon-alfa–based regimen had failed in 54. Conclusions Fifteen months after unrestricted DAA availability the majority of HIV/HCV-coinfected patients in the Netherlands have their HCV infection cured (76%) or are awaiting DAA treatment results (6%). This rapid treatment scale-up may contribute to future HCV elimination among these patients