User-Generated Content (UGC) in a running-related online community

Abstract

The Web has become the place where consumers search for information and try to find the answers to their questions for any kind of problem: this has brought to the birth of many online communities that have the aim to give to users what they need, in different content forms. Online communities give the possibility to overcome limits of space and they are interesting from a managerial perspective because they are containers of crucial information for brands, that are expressed in the form of user-generated content (UGC): this content, if analyzed, allows to understand the slightest discrepancies between what brands communicate and what there is instead in the minds of consumers. Given the growing importance of this phenomenon, in this work there will be a qualitative analysis of UGC of an online community, which focus is running. Running has become in last decades a sport always more practiced and the involvement that runners show for this activity is very strong; also runners search the answers to their need online, because of the possibility to reach easily a high number of people, and this has triggered the birth of many running-related online communities: there, runners share their experiences and their passion, but the interesting aspect for brands is all the contents which make a reference to their products, because many useful insights for the management of their brand can be gained from that content.