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Professional gamers on Twitter/X: tweeting for change.

Bibliographic Details
Title: Professional gamers on Twitter/X: tweeting for change.
Authors: Berndt, Adele D.1,2 (AUTHOR) adele.berndt@ju.se
Source: Journal of Media Business Studies. Sep2026, p1-24. 24p. 2 Illustrations.
Subject Terms: Esports, Social media, South Africans, Motivation (Psychology), Video game culture
Reviews & Products: Twitter (Web resource)
Abstract: Professional gamers play esports as an occupation and income source. As a group, limited attention has been paid to professional gamers and their online behaviour on social media platforms such as X. The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons (or motivations) of professional gamers to use X from a Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) perspective. This study used exploratory and qualitative methods to analyse 23,356 tweets of South African professional gamers taken from their X accounts using NVivo. This allows for research on the use of X in another cultural context. Social interaction, information sharing, and promotion were identified as motives, but in this study, the motives of personal opinions, entrepreneurship, and gaming issues were also identified. The use of tweets to highlight causes enables professional gamers to use the platform to impact the broader gaming community, society and media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Media Business Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Business Source Index
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  Data: Professional gamers on Twitter/X: tweeting for change.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Berndt%2C+Adele+D%2E%22">Berndt, Adele D.</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> adele.berndt@ju.se</i>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Media+Business+Studies%22">Journal of Media Business Studies</searchLink>. Sep2026, p1-24. 24p. 2 Illustrations.
– Name: Subject
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Esports%22">Esports</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+media%22">Social media</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22South+Africans%22">South Africans</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Motivation+%28Psychology%29%22">Motivation (Psychology)</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Video+game+culture%22">Video game culture</searchLink>
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  Label: Reviews & Products
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="PS" term="%22Twitter+%28Web+resource%29%22">Twitter (Web resource)</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Professional gamers play esports as an occupation and income source. As a group, limited attention has been paid to professional gamers and their online behaviour on social media platforms such as X. The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons (or motivations) of professional gamers to use X from a Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) perspective. This study used exploratory and qualitative methods to analyse 23,356 tweets of South African professional gamers taken from their X accounts using NVivo. This allows for research on the use of X in another cultural context. Social interaction, information sharing, and promotion were identified as motives, but in this study, the motives of personal opinions, entrepreneurship, and gaming issues were also identified. The use of tweets to highlight causes enables professional gamers to use the platform to impact the broader gaming community, society and media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Media Business Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1080/16522354.2026.2730778
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        PageCount: 24
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      – SubjectFull: Esports
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Social media
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: South Africans
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Motivation (Psychology)
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Video game culture
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      – SubjectFull: Twitter (Web resource)
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      – TitleFull: Professional gamers on Twitter/X: tweeting for change.
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              M: 09
              Text: Sep2026
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