DEPICTION OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN THE POSTS OF THE MOST POPULAR LITHUANIAN INFLUENCERS PUBLISHED ON INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47458/VS.2026.3(114)-4Keywords:
physical activity, influencers, social networks, content analysisAbstract
The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of posts depicting physical activity in the posts of the most popular Lithuanian influencers on Instagram and Facebook, according to characteristics of the influencers and the characteristics of their posts.
Materials and methods. In this study, all (6425) publicly available Instagram and Facebook posts of the most popular Lithuanian influencers published in 2022 were analyzed. The chi-square (χ2) test was used to assess the distribution of the posts according to the gender, age, number of followers, number of reactions to and comments on the posts, and the time of publication.
Results. Physical activity was depicted in 1119 (17.4%) social media posts and was relatively more frequently depicted on Facebook (19.9% vs 12.8%, p<0.001). On Instagram, posts depicting physical activity were relatively more frequently published by female influencers, whereas on Facebook they were more frequently published by male influencers (respectively, 63.9% vs 36.1% and 80.3% vs 19.7%, p<0.001). On Facebook, physical activity was relatively more often depicted by older influencers and by those with a larger number of followers, and these posts received relatively more reactions but fewer comments (respectively, 76.1% vs 23.9%, 68.5% vs 31.5%, 55.6% vs 44.4%, and 60.3% vs 39.7%, p<0.001). On Instagram, walking was the most frequently depicted form of physical activity, appearing in 34.0% of the posts depicting physical activity on the social network Instagram.
Conclusions. Physical activity is depicted in one-sixth of posts published by the most popular Lithuanian influencers on Instagram and Facebook, more frequently on Facebook. On Instagram, physical activity is more often depicted by female influencers, whereas on Facebook it is more often depicted by male influencers. The most frequently depicted form of physical activity on Instagram is walking.
