Social Media Data Analysis: Exploring Online Communities in Wearable Devices and Physical Education

This symposium introduces participants to the fundamentals and practical applications of social media data analysis, featuring case studies from Reddit communities focused on wearable technology (r/AppleWatch and r/GalaxyWatch) and physical education (r/PhysicalEducation). As user-generated content continues to shape public discourse, social media platforms offer valuable opportunities to examine behavioral trends, sentiment, and the evolution of shared concerns in sport, health, and physical education. This session presents accessible analytical methods and interpretable visualizations that demonstrate how social media data can inform teaching, research, and professional development. The symposium is organized into three focused sections:

Session 1: From Posts to Patterns: An Introduction to Social Media Data Analysis

The first session introduces the concept of social media data analysis—what it is, why it matters, and how it can be applied across sport, health, and physical education domains. Participants will explore how digital communities such as Reddit function as informal spaces where users share experiences, voice concerns, and shape public discourse. The session emphasizes the analytical value of large-scale, unstructured text data and illustrates how social media data analysis can uncover patterns and perspectives that are often difficult to capture through conventional research approaches. It also emphasizes how social media data can generate actionable insights to support research development and enrich teaching practices with timely, real-world examples.

Session 2: Wearable Wars: Comparing Conversations Across Apple and Galaxy Watch Users

The second session presents a case study comparing two fitness-oriented Reddit communities: r/AppleWatch and r/GalaxyWatch. The analysis examines differences in discussion topics, sentiment patterns, and engagement styles, offering insight into how users frame experiences with their devices. A key focus of this session is the identification and behavioral analysis of bridge users, individuals active in both subreddits. Their posting habits, topic preferences, and tone are analyzed to understand cross-community behavior. Participants will observe how text mining techniques, sentiment analysis, and tools such as word clouds, keyword networks, and LIWC (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count) are used to uncover thematic and emotional patterns. This case demonstrates how online discourse can reflect broader issues related to user identity, digital health practices, and brand perceptions.

Session 3: Evolving Priorities in Physical Education: What Reddit Reveals

The third session focuses on r/PhysicalEducation, a subreddit where educators, students, and professionals share resources, ask questions, and discuss topics related to physical education, such as teaching strategies, curriculum design, classroom management, and career development. Using keyword extraction and time-series analysis, this case study identifies emerging, prevalent, and declining topics across different timeframes. The session demonstrates how topic shifts can reveal changes in the field’s priorities and challenges. Through these analyses, participants will gain a deeper understanding of evolving instructional needs, educator concerns, and community discourse within physical education.

By the end of the symposium, attendees will understand how social media data can be systematically collected and analyzed to uncover patterns in public dialogue. The session will equip participants with new perspectives and practical frameworks for engaging with digital communities as sources of insight and innovation in sport, health, and physical education.