Weekend (Keyboard) Warriors: Differences in Social Media Consumption and Production Between NFL and College Football Fans.

This article examines differences in social media behaviors between college football fans and National Football League (NFL) fans in the United States, using a social identity approach that distinguishes between team identification (psychological connection to a favorite team) and fan identification (psychological connection to other fans of that team). Surveying 586 respondents with a clear preference for either college football or the NFL, the study found that college football fans consume, create, and share significantly more sports-related social media content than NFL fans, although team identification levels did not differ significantly between the groups. Fan identification was the stronger predictor of social media consumption and creation for both fan groups, while team identification more directly predicted social media sharing. These findings highlight important distinctions within football fandom and suggest that scholars should avoid generalizing behaviors across all football fans, emphasizing the nuanced roles of social and team identities in shaping online fan engagement.