The Influence of Social Media on Sports Interest and Participation in The Young Generation in Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31851/2nvdve39Abstract
This study aims to examine the influence of social media on the interest and participation of young people in Indonesia in sports. A quantitative survey method was used, involving 300 respondents aged 15-26 who actively use social media and participate in sports. The results show that the majority of respondents (75%) are exposed to sports content frequently to very frequently, with the high exposure group having an average sports frequency of 3.6 sessions per week, higher than the low exposure group, which only had 2.1 sessions. Regression analysis revealed intrinsic motivation as the main predictor of sports participation (β = 0.848), while social media exposure also had a significant positive effect (β = 0.581). These findings confirm that social media can increase internal motivation and sports frequency, but also has the potential to cause social pressure related to body image. Therefore, the recommendation from this study is the need for education and digital content curation. The goal is to optimize the positive effects of social media while minimizing its negative psychosocial impacts. This is expected to foster healthy and sustainable sports participation among the younger generation. In conclusion, social media contributes to increased sustainable sports participation, but this must be balanced with education to reduce psychosocial risks.
References
Abidin, D., Arisman, A., & Wasan, A. (2024). The Influence of Social Media on Millennial Generation Community Participation in Sports Activities. International Journal of Disabilities Sports and Health Sciences, 7(4), 721–729. https://doi.org/10.33438/ijdshs.1444232
Anderson, E., & Durstine, J. L. (2019). Physical activity, exercise, and chronic diseases: A brief review. Sports Medicine and Health Science, 1(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smhs.2019.08.006
Aschwanden, R., & Messner, C. (2024). How influencers motivate inactive adolescents to be more physically active: a mixed methods study. Frontiers in Public Health, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1429850
Asosiasi Penyelenggara Jasa Internet Indonesia (APJII). (2023). Laporan Survei Internet Indonesia 2023
Becheva, M. S. V., Kirkova-Bogdanova, A. G., Kazalakova, K. M., & Ivanova, S. A. (2023). The benefits of sports for the physical and mental health of adolescents. Pharmacia, 70(3), 751–756. https://doi.org/10.3897/pharmacia.70.e111888
Bell, B. T., Talbot, C. V., & Deighton-Smith, N. (2024). Following Up on #Fitspiration: A Comparative Content Analysis and Thematic Analysis of Social Media Content Aiming to Inspire Fitness From 2014 and 2021. Psychology of Popular Media, 13(4), 666–676. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000523
Benucci, S. B., Fioravanti, G., Silvestro, V., Spinelli, M. C., Brogioni, G., Casalini, A., Allegrini, L., Altomare, A. I., Castellini, G., Ricca, V., & Rotella, F. (2024). Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Disorder Symptoms. 1–13.
Bochaver, K. A., Reznichenko, S. I., & Bondarev, D. V. (2023). Authenticity and Mental Toughness in Athletes: an Empirical Model. Experimental Psychology (Russia), 16(4), 172–188. https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2023160412
Bonfanti, R. C., Melchiori, F., Teti, A., Albano, G., Raffard, S., Rodgers, R., & Lo Coco, G. (2025). The association between social comparison in social media, body image concerns and eating disorder symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Body Image, 52(May 2024). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101841
Donovan, C. L., Uhlmann, L. R., & Loxton, N. J. (2020). Strong is the New Skinny, but is it Ideal?: A Test of the Tripartite Influence Model using a new Measure of Fit-Ideal Internalisation. Body Image, 35, 171–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.09.002
Durau, J., Diehl, S., & Terlutter, R. (2022). Motivate me to exercise with you: The effects of social media fitness influencers on users’ intentions to engage in physical activity and the role of user gender. Digital Health, 8. https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076221102769
Kim, H.-M. (2022). Social comparison of fitness social media postings by fitness app users. Computers in Human Behavior, 131, 107204. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107204
Klier, K., Rommerskirchen, T., & Brixius, K. (2022). #Fitspiration: a Comparison of the Sport-Related Social Media Usage and Its Impact on Body Image in Young Adults. BMC Psychology, 10(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-01027-9
Lim, M. S. C., Molenaar, A., Brennan, L., Reid, M., & McCaffrey, T. (2022). Young Adults’ Use of Different Social Media Platforms for Health Information: Insights From Web-Based Conversations. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.2196/23656
Schlegel, P., Křehký, A., & Dostálová, R. (2021). Social Media Fitness Challenge – Risks and Benefits. Acta Facultatis Educationis Physicae Universitatis Comenianae, 61(2), 238–248. https://doi.org/10.2478/afepuc-2021-0020
Vale, L., & Fernandes, T. (2018). Social media and sports: driving fan engagement with football clubs on Facebook. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 26(1), 37–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2017.1359655
Xiao, X., Huang, D., & Li, G. (2025). The impact of fitness social media use on exercise behavior: the chained mediating role of intrinsic motivation and exercise intention. Frontiers in Psychology, 16(July), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1635912
Yao, T., Noordin, H., Suppiah, P. K., & Bikar Singh, S. S. (2024). Influencing Factors of College Students’ Sports Participation. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 14(1), 2317–2323. https://doi.org/10.6007/ijarbss/v14-i1/20650
Yin, H., Huang, X., & Zhou, G. (2024). An Empirical Investigation into the Impact of Social Media Fitness Videos on Users’ Exercise Intentions. Behavioral Sciences, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14030157
Zheng, X., & Li, W. (2024). Association between fitness technology use and physical activity mediated by communication behaviors on social media. Digital Health, 10. https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076241266367
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Anisa Sholiha Mia, Ardo Okilanda, Rina Mayangsari, Rudyanto, Abdur Rohim Fadlan, Bram Sujadesman, Kristian Burhan

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
1. License
Use of articles will be governed by the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike license as currently displayed on Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA)
The author warrants that the article is original, written by stated author(s), has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any third party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author(s).
Halaman Olahraga Nusantara's spirit is to disseminate articles published are as free as possible. Under the Creative Commons license, Halaman Olahraga Nusantara permits users to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work. Users will also need to attribute authors and Halaman Olahraga Nusantara on distributing works in the journal and other media of publications.
4. Rights of Authors
Authors retain all their rights to the published works, such as (but not limited to) the following rights;
1. Copyright and other proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights,
2. The right to use the substance of the article in own future works, including lectures and books,
3. The right to reproduce the article for own purposes,
4. The right to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the article's published version (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal Halaman Olahraga Nusantara.
5. Co-Authorship
If the article was jointly prepared by more than one author, any authors submitting the manuscript warrants that he/she has been authorized by all co-authors to be agreed on this copyright and license notice (agreement) on their behalf, and agrees to inform his/her co-authors of the terms of this policy. Halaman Olahraga Nusantara will not be held liable for anything that may arise due to the author(s) internal dispute. Halaman Olahraga Nusantara will only communicate with the corresponding author.
6. Royalties
Being an open accessed journal and disseminating articles for free under the Creative Commons license term mentioned, author(s) aware that Halaman Olahraga Nusantara entitles the author(s) to no royalties or other fees.








