Research On The Media Image Of China’s Current Table Tennis Champion In Sina Weibo Pictures

By virtue of the characteristics of speediness and convenience,wide coverage,and high user stickiness,social media platforms are deeply integrated into normal life,and their role in sports communication is also becoming more and more prominent.Social media platforms have now become an important way for the public to understand athletes and sports.Through social media platforms,athletes have transformed from"reported" to "communicators" and "content producers," and social media accounts have also become an important way for athletes to construct media images.The image of athletes in social media has gradually become an important factor affecting the public attention on sports.This study takes the original pictures posted by the Olympic table tennis champion in active service on his Sina Weibo account as samples to analyze the features and construction mode of the media image of the table tennis champion on the social platform.First of all,the author classifies and organizes the pictures of the Chinese table tennis champion posted on Sina Weibo by the five topics:picture theme,sports,shooting scene,costume and shooting type.Secondly,based on Goffman’s"Dramaturgical Theory",the author analyzes the media image of the champion on the social media platform through the data of reposts,comments,and likes on his Weibo account.The following results have been gained from the analysis:1.the table tennis champion has a fuzzy boundary between "front-end" and "back-end",that is,while a diversified image,he also highlights the image of private life;2.paying attention to impression management strategies and using visual symbols to strengthen his media image;3.the image he constructed is interdependent,forming cohesion and improving the communication effect.This study holds that these characteristics showed by the media image of the table tennis champion is because the empowerment of users by technology accelerates the penetration from the private domain into the public domain;athletes not only have the convenience of personalized expression in the process of media image construction,but also need to cater to the audience’s expectations and preferences,so as to achieve a good spread effect.The media image of athletes has significant effect on the promotion of sports and the guidance of social education.Therefore,a reasonable image construction method is worth learning.The author puts forward suggestions from three aspects:maintaining excellent competitive level and competition performance,actively presenting multiple social roles to avoid excessive entertainment,and strengthening the shaping of the team image and combining media events to construct the image.