Olympians on Twitter: A Linguistic Perspective of the Role of Authenticity, Clout, and Expertise in Social Media Advertising

Abstract Consumers’ ability to find information on demand via social media has given them considerable power they do not have with mass advertising, and social media offers great potential for brands to utilize celebrity endorsers for product promotion. This research highlights the importance of linguistics in examining the effectiveness of celebrities’ social media content, particularly that of Olympic athletes. The authors collect and assess tweets from Olympians who represented the United States in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to better understand how tweets containing words related to authenticity and clout affect consumers’ interactions with celebrities, shedding light on how long standing advertising concepts such as the source credibility model may change in the digital age.