Instagram as Self-Advertisement for the USWNT:
By Brigid Larkin
There seems to be a certain level of consistency throughout social media as to which players are popular or well known. That rule does not necessarily apply to instagram. The best example of this is Sydney Leroux. Her Facebook page, when compared to Alex Morgan or Abby Wambach (both of whom are also forwards) is relatively unimpressive. She has only 98,000 followers, and close to half of her posts are simply reposts from her Twitter or Instagram accounts. Her Instagram, on the other hand, is wildly popular. She has 367,000 followers, and posts almost daily. What is most attractive about Leroux’s page on Instagram is that most of her posts are in no way related to Team USA. Of course, she made the obligatory posts about being on the roster for the 2015 World Cup, and adheres to the marketing campaign that the team is running, but the vast majority of her photos are personal. This gives her followers a glance into her life outside of Team USA, and, quite frankly, it’s a fascinating one. In early 2015, Leroux announced her marriage to fellow professional soccer player Dom Dwyer (Schwartz). The two are a popular couple, and the media knows it. Monica Gonzalez joked just a few weeks ago when she came to Duke’s campus that the couple should have a reality show .
https://instagram.com/p/1tEYivmWPi/?taken-by=sydneyleroux
(It’s also worth noting that Leroux’s dog, Boss, has his own Twitter page. Feel free to check him out here.)
However, Cindy Leroux’s Instagram popularity does not preclude her teammates from having equal online celebrity. As is to be expected at this point, Alex Morgan is just as popular on Instagram as she is on Twitter and Facebook. She’s at 800,000 followers, more than twice Leroux’s already impressive following. Morgan’s account has a lot in common with Leroux’s, right down to the popularity of her relationship. One photo of Morgan’s wedding got more than 100,000 likes and dozens of comments. Morgan’s marriage to Servando Carrasco, a fellow professional soccer player, has certainly also captivated the attention of fans. Morgan’s Instagram does make one major shift in comparison to Leroux’s–Morgan’s endorsements are prominent in her pictures. In particular, Morgan makes numerous posts about Tampax, an endorsement exclusive to Morgan, as opposed to the Women’s National Team. While the 1999 World Cup team certainly did not have Instagram as an option through which to further their endorsements, this is definitely another example of self advertisement. You can read more about the types of endorsement deals that the women’s team has on our endorsements page, here.
Return to our homepage on the Media Presence of Individual Players
Works Cited:
Gonzalez, Monica. Forum. April 2015.
“Instagram logo” by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Instagram_logo.png#/media/File:Instagram_logo.png
Leroux, Sydney (sydneyleroux). instagram.com/sydneyleroux. Web. 30 April 2015.
Morgan, Alex (alexmorgan13). instagram.com/alexmorgan13. Web. 30 April 2015.
Schwartz, Nick. “Sydney Leroux and Dom Dwyer Reveal Wedding on Valentine’s Day.” USA Today Sports. 14 Feb. 2015. Web. 20 April 2015.
How to cite this page: “Instagram as Self-Advertisement.” Written by Brigid Larkin (2015), World Cup 2015, Soccer Politics Blog, Duke University, http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/world-cup-guides/world-cup-2015-guide/media-coverage-of-the-2015-world-cup/media-presence-of-individual-players/instagram-as-self-advertisement/ (accessed on (date))
