The Modern Football Experience on Instagram: A comparative Case Study of Real Madrid and InstaTroll_Football

It is becoming increasingly clear that technology has changed many aspects of modern life with communication being one of the more relevantly affected areas. This transformation has occurred not only in face-to-face communications but also in large aspects of popular culture such as sport. Particularly, football communication has taken a major shift, and that shift is evolving from traditional stadiums and television spaces to dynamic, digitally mediated spaces. This thesis will examine how that shift has occurred, particularly through the lens of social media, and more specifically Instagram as the most pervasive public site of football discourse. The study will begin with a historical overview of the evolution of football communication in the last century. This overview will highlight important changes in football communication from print and broadcast, to digital and participatory. Then, the study will look at Instagram itself to uncover its own communicative properties and features; particularly its distinctions as a visual tool including memes and emojis. The last section presents a comparative case study of Real Madrid Instagram account and instatroll_football, a meme-based fan account, highlighting the different communication styles. Overall, this thesis provides a critical outlook on how Instagram mediates the experiences of football culture nowadays.