Social media in eSports, is quite similar to social media in regular sports.  You’ll see players interacting with fans, players promoting their brand, and even the occasional trash talk.  Much like the NFL, you’ll see the League of Legends eSports account tweet roster moves, and recaps of recent matches

The main difference between social media in sports versus social media in eSports, is the fact the rise of eSports came during/after the birth and success of social media. Where as this was not the case with traditional sports.  Michael Jordan didn’t have a twitter account where he would put Magic Johnson on blast.  And Reggie Jackson didn’t have an Instagram where he would highlight the fashion trends of the 70’s, much like Russel Westbrook does today.

 

Obviously eSports aren’t as big yet as traditonal sports, no one argues that.  It is a fact though that they are on the rise.  And the benefit highly from social media platforms.  If someone tweets a link to a match, you can just click it and you’re watching.  This isn’t the case with with football or basketball (of course you can click a link and watch an illegal stream of one of those sports, but that’s frowned upon). The fact of the matter is, eSports and social media go hand in hand.  Without a platform like reddit, eSports may have not even have gotten off the ground.