ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 19 Original scientific article DOI: https://doi.org/10.35469/ak.2023.424 received: 2023-11-17 UDC: 796.035:316.472 ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE CHOICE OF FITNESS TRAINER Nikolina ALERIĆ 1 , Ana PENJAK 1 , Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ 1 1 Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split, Croatia Corresponding author: Ana PENJAK 1 Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split Teslina 6, HR-21000 Split, Croatia Telephone: +385 21 302 440 Email: ana.penjak@kifst.eu ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to: a) investigate and determine gender differences to- wards factors influencing gym-goers’ choice of fitness trainer; and b) to identify and explain gender differences in gym-goers’ attitudes towards social media exercise con- tents (SMEC). For this purpose, a questionnaire was created. The study was conducted on a sample of 50 gym-goers (N1=13 male and N2=37 female), all attending a gym in Split, Croatia. The variable sample consisted of five groups of variables. Test-retest overlap was performed to determine the reliability (88.20%) of the questionnaire. The results showed that the affirmative attitudes were statistically significant in contrast to the non-affirmative attitudes (Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Test, T=250.00, Z=3.60, p<0.001). In addition, male gym-goers generally have a significantly more affirmati- ve attitude towards SMEC than female gym-goers (Mann-Whitney U-test, U=119.50, Z=–2.68, p=0.007). Furthermore, there are gender differences in choosing a fitness trainer based on their appearance; but there are no gender differences in the attitude towards the number of fitness trainers’ followers on social media as an indicator of tru- stworthiness. As this study was specifically concerned with the attitudes of gym-goers, future studies should focus on sports professionals and their attitudes toward this topic. Keywords: social media, attitudes, fitness trainer, exercise, gender 20 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 ODNOS DO VSEBIN V DRUŽBENIH MEDIJIH, POVEZANIH S TELESNO V ADBO, IN IZBIRA TRENERJA FITNESA IZVLEČEK Cilj raziskave je bil: a) proučiti in opredeliti razlike med spoloma v dejavnikih, ki vplivajo na odločitev obiskovalcev fitnesa o izbiri trenerja, ter b) ugotoviti in razloži- ti razlike med spoloma v odnosu obiskovalcev fitnesa do vsebin v družbenih medijih, povezanih s telesno vadbo. V ta namen smo na novo zasnovali vprašalnik. Raziskavo smo izvedli na vzorcu 50 oseb (N1 = 13 moških, N2 = 37 žensk), ki obiskujejo fitnes v Splitu. Vzorec spremenljivk je bil sestavljen iz petih skupin spremenljivk. Izvedli smo test ponovljivosti, s katerim smo določili zanesljivost (88,20 %) vprašalnika. Rezultati so pokazali statistično pomembnost afirmativnih odnosov v nasprotju z neafirmativnimi (Wilcoxonov test ekvivalentnih parov, T = 250,00, Z = 3,60, p < 0,001). Poleg tega je bil odnos moških obiskovalcev fitnesa do vsebin v družbenih medijih, povezanih s telesno vadbo, veliko bolj afirmativen kot odnos obiskovalk (Mann-Whitneyjev U test, U = 119,50, Z = -2,68, p = 0,007). Med spoloma so bile razlike tudi pri izbiri trenerja fitnesa na podlagi njegovega videza, ni pa bilo razlik med spoloma v odnosu do števila sledilcev, ki jih ima trener v družbenih medijih, kot kazalnika njegove verodostojnosti. Ta raziskava zajema samo obiskovalce fitnesa, zato bi se morale prihodnje raziskave osredotočiti na poklicne športnike in njihov odnos do te teme. Ključne besede: družbeni mediji, odnos, trener fitnesa, vadba, spol 21 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 INTRODUCTION Over the last twenty years, technology has not only changed the way we live but also the way we work. This has led to a sedentary lifestyle, less physical work and the emergence of modern diseases (WHO, 2021; European Commis- sion, 2021). As online access to information does not require users to have any prior kno- wledge or knowledge of a programming language (Norman, 2012), people have easier and cheaper access than before (Chou, Hunt, Beckjord, Moser & Hesse, 2009; Hanson et al., 2011; Ralph, Berglas, Schwartz & Brindis, 2011; Selkie, Benson & Moreno, 2011; Usher, 2011). For example, statistical data indicate that 61% of American adults use the Internet to find information about sports and health every day, while 39% look for the same information on social media (Fox & Jones, 2018); 22% of healthcare professionals in Norway use Facebook as a source of health information, while 45% of healthcare professionals in Norway and Sweden use LinkedIn for the same purpose (Teodoro & Naaman, 2013); and 30% of the world’s population uses social media as a medium of interaction every day (Regan, 2015). Due to its efficiency and convenience, social media as a global phenomenon has become an indispensable means of communication today: a channel for the instant exchange of information, opinions, and attitudes shared by all genera- tions worldwide (Ratinger, 2017; Stanojević, 2011; Akbari, Huc, Liqiangb & Chua, 2018). Even more, its use is not only a common medium to emphasize one’s interests or hobbies but also a medium to share knowledge and opportu- nities in various fields and for various purposes in our daily lives: from its use in health and educational professions (Mani, Uma, John & Mieminen, 2023; Zaintal & Rahmat, 2020) to its impact on consumers’ purchase intention, wor- kers’ creativity (Arora, Rana & Prashar, 2023; Zhang, Wang & Chen, 2023) and even as a tool to promote the career prospects of female academics in countries where women’s career prospects are not as promising as men’s (Sarwar, Imran, Akhtar & Fatima, 2023). Furthermore, when browsing online profiles, people are subject to trends im- posed by social media, whether consciously or unconsciously. One such trend concerns the profiles of fitness trainers and their social media exercise content (SMEC). The idea of taking care of one’s health, combined with daily posts of exercises, healthy eating, and various ways to become physically active, has led to the emergence of this modern trend that has taken on an important, even invasive, role in contemporary life. In other words, Facebook and Instagram, as the most popular social media in terms of followers, have enabled fitness 22 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 trainers to publish such content and reach a large audience through pictures, videos and motivational posts (Stanojević, 2011; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). In addition, today’s gym-goers have become more demanding and require more information and expertise than what they receive in a gym (McCall, 2015). Nu- merous studies have highlighted the positive impact of SMEC on its users. In addition to the ability to publish daily online exercise videos and motivational posts, fitness trainers who post on social media represent an important ‘digital type of health communicator that could influence health behavior’ (Durau, Di- ehl & Terlutter, 2022: 2). Tracking the influence of SMEC and fitness trainers on social media shows that they increase users’ awareness of the importance of physical activity, healthy eating and good fitness, and increase physical activity among both men and women (Durau, Diehl & Terlutter, 2022). Social media platforms that expose SMEC provide the opportunity to reach a larger number of people in a timely manner and draw their attention to their posts and/or blogs where they disseminate information about a healthy lifestyle on a daily basis; it represents a valuable source of useful and correct information about health and sports (Adams, 2010a; Adams, 2010b); it brings profit to the influencers of social media fitness trainers as they use these platforms to promote themselves and their products in addition to all the aspects mentioned above (Grbavac & Grbavac, 2014; Teodoro & Naaman, 2013). However, some studies have also highlighted the negative aspects of SMEC use. Moorhead et al. (2013), for example, lists 12 negative aspects of SMEC. One of these is the inability to control the trustworthiness of the source of content posted on social media, highlighting the potential harm that can result from blindly following SMEC. Given all this, and the fact that there is no way to control the accuracy of SMEC, the question arises: can users trust the SMEC they see, to what extent can they trust it, and how should they choose which influences from SMEC or fitness trainers to follow? Based on these arguments, we hypothesize the following: H1: Users tend to be indecisive when choosing their fitness trainer on social media; H2: There are differences between males and females in terms of affirmative attitudes towards exercise via social media; H3: There are statistically significant differences between males and fema- les in terms of non-affirmative attitudes towards sports on social media. Thus, this study aims to: a) investigate and determine gender differences towards factors influencing gym-goers’ choice of fitness trainer; b) identify and explain the gender differences in gym-goers’ attitudes towards SMEC. 23 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 METHODS Procedure and participants The sample consisted of a total of 50 gym-goers (N 1 =13 male (26%) and N 2 =37 female (74%)), all attending a gym in Split, Croatia (see Table 1 for a detailed description of the sample). All of the participants were annual gym members who exercised individually and not in groups programs. As there were no previously developed and validated measurement instru- ments, a new measurement instrument (questionnaire with five questions) was constructed for data collection. The survey was conducted in May 2018. The questionnaire was anonymous and all participants were informed in writing that their participation was voluntary. The given time limit was ten minutes. The questionnaire was written in Croatian. It was handed out in paper. The questionnaire consisted of five items: 1) Demographic variables (gen- der, age, height, weight and body mass index (BMI)); 2) Exercise habits (how often do they exercise, do they participate in any type of group workout); 3) Sources of knowledge about exercise (education, gym, social media, online ar- ticles or scientific sports literature); 4) Choice of social media platforms as a so- urce of information about exercise (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or YouTube); 5) 13 variables on attitudes towards SMEC (7 affirmative attitude variables, 4 non-affirmative attitude variables and 2 variables of a neutral character). Affirmative attitudes were as follows: “I follow sports-content posts on the Internet and social media”; “Social media play an important role in the fitness industry”; “I often visit personal fitness trainers’ sites and their sports content posts on the Internet and social media”; “I trust personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media”; ‘Personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Inter- net and social media motivate me”; “Exercising according to fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media is the most practical way of exercising”; “Personal trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media have had a positive impact on the importance of exercising”. Non-affirmative attitudes were as fol- lows: “People who cannot afford any other type of exercising, exercise using personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media”; “One cannot exercise using personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media without any prior knowledge”; “I have a hard time finding adequate personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media for my exercises”; “I do not exercise using personal fitness trainers’ posts on the internet and social me- dia, but via their posts I have enriched my knowledge on exercising”. Neutral attitudes were as follows: “I choose personal fitness trainers on the Internet and 24 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 social media according to their looks”; “The number of followers is a good quality sign of personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media”. All questions that could be answered quantitatively were asked on a 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly agree, 2=agree, 3=neither agree nor disagree, 4=disa- gree, and 5=strongly disagree). The test-retest overlap was calculated (88.20%) to determine the reliabili- ty of the measurement instrument (questionnaire). This confirms the validity of the newly constructed questionnaire. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum score, median, mode, and frequency of mode) were used to describe the variables of the sample and to determine the differences between the affirmative and non-affirmative variables. Frequency, percentage and mode were calculated for the questions describing the sample. The Wilcoxon matched-pairs test was used to determine the differences bet- ween affirmative and non-affirmative attitudes. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine differences in attitudes between male and female. Data were analysed using the statistical software package Statistics 14.0. (TIBCO Softwa- re Inc. (2020)). RESULTS Table 1 shows that non-affirmative attitudes statistically prevail (p<0.001) and that male users have more affirmative attitudes than female users (p=0.007). Table 2 shows that, based on the results gained from the total sample, the majority of users exercise mostly 3 times per week or 3-5 times per week. Table 3 shows that, based on the results gained from the total sample, gym- goers say they have gained their knowledge of exercises and fitness mostly from the gym and less from SMEC. Table 4 shows that Instagram (46%) is the most popular platform for gaining information on exercises; Twitter (30%) is the second most popular platform, Facebook (22%) comes in third place and YouTube (2%) is the least popular platform for gaining information on exercises. Table 5 shows the results of the gym-goers answers for each of 12 variables regarding all three attitudes. Variable 1 has the highest frequency in males, in females, and in all groups together. 25 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 Table 1: Descriptive statistical parameters (mean, standard deviation, minimal and maximal result) for sample description and affirmative and non-affirmative attitudes regarding exercising using contents published online and on social media All groups Female Male Variable AS ± SD MIN/ MAX AS ± SD MIN/ MAX AS ± SD MIN/ MAX Age 58.44 ±8.99 17.00/ 54.00 28.62 ±9.64 17.00/ 54.00 27.92 ±7.09 19.00/ 43.00 Body height 174.72 ±6.15 165.00/ 191.00 172.11 ±4.43 165.00/ 183.00 182.15 ±3.85 178.00/ 191.00 Body weight 70.60 ±12.14 51.00/ 97.00 66.19 ±8.47 51.00/ 96.00 86.00 ±6.28 76.00/ 97.00 BMI 23.02 ±3.02 18.21/ 31.71 22.01 ±2.73 18.21/ 31.71 26.91 ±2.73 23.20/ 28.41 Affirmative 2.69 ±0.54† 1.71/ 4.43 2.55 ±0.42* 1.71/3.43 3.08 ±0.68* 1.86/ 4.43 Non- affirmative 3.30 ±0.74† 2.00/ 5.00 3.40 ±0.70 2.00/5.00 3.03 ±0.81 2.00/ 5.00 Legend: †Statistically significant difference between affirmative and non-affirmative on the total sample (Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Test, T=250.00, Z=3.60, p<0.001); *Statistically significant difference between females and males in affirmative attitudes (Mann-Whitney U test, U=1 19.50, Z=-2.68, p=0.007) Table 2: Descriptive statistical parameters (frequency, percentage, and mode) for the variable ‘Exercise habits of gym-goers’ All groups I exercise f % Daily 4.00 8.00 3-5 times per weekw 21.00 42.00 3 times per week 22.00* 44.00* 2 times per week 3.00 6.00 Never 0.00 0.00 Legend: *mode; f - frequency; % - percentage 26 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 Table 3: Descriptive statistical parameters (frequency, percentage, and mode) for the variable ‘Source of knowledge about exercise’ All groups I gained my knowledge on exercises f % Throughout my education 6.00 12.00 In a gym 31.00* 62.00* Via social media 10.00 20.00 Via online articles 2.00 4.00 From scientific sports literature 1.00 2.00 Legend: *mode; f - frequency; % - percentage Table 4: Descriptive statistical parameters (frequency, percentage and mode) for the variable ‘Choice of social media platforms as a source of information about exercising’ All groups As a source of information about exercising, I use: f % Facebook 11.00 22.00 Instagram 23.00* 46.00* Twitter 15.00 30.00 YouTube 1.00 2.00 Legend: *mode; f - frequency; % - percentage Graph 1 shows that for males the answers vary from ‘Strongly agree’ to ‘Strongly disagree’ while, for females, answers vary from ‘Agree’ to ‘Disagree’. Graph 2 shows that the answers ‘Nor agree nor disagree’ dominate; females were more likely to answer ‘Disagree’ than males, and males were more likely to answer ‘Strongly disagree’ than females. 27 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 Graph 1: Percentages of answers to the neutral attitude: ‘I choose personal fitness trainers on the Internet and social networks according to their looks’ Graph 2: Percentages of individual responses to the neutral attitude: ‘The number of followers is a good indicator of a fitness trainer’ s quality as well as the quality of their posts on the Internet and social networks’ 28 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 Table 5: Descriptive statistical parameters (median, mode, and frequency of mode-F mode) for 12 variables on the positive and negative attitudes All groups Female Male Variable Median Mode F mode Median Mode F mode Median Mode F mode Affirmative attitudes 1 strongly agree strongly agree 40 strongly agree strongly agree 30 strongly agree strongly agree 10 2 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 19 agree neither agree nor disagree 17 disagree disagree 4 3 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 19 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 13 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 6 4 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 16 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 13 disagree strongly disagree 5 5 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 19 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 12 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 7 6 agree agree 19 agree agree 16 neither agree nor disagree strongly disagree 4 Non-affirmative attitudes 7 disagree disagree 20 agree strongly disagree 15 disagree disagree 7 8 neither agree nor disagree agree 14 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 12 strongly agree strongly agree 7 9 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 15 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 13 neither agree nor disagree strongly agree 5 10 agree agree 17 agree agree 12 agree agree 5 29 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 All groups Female Male Variable Median Mode F mode Median Mode F mode Median Mode F mode Neutral attitudes 11 neither agree nor disagree Multiple 11 neither agree nor disagree Multiple 9 neither agree nor disagree strongly agree 4 12 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 17 neither agree nor disagree neither agree nor disagree 12 neither agree nor disagree Multiple 5 Legend: Median; mode; f mode-frequency Variables: 1-‘Social media play an important role in the fitness industry’; 2-‘I often visit personal fitness trainers’ sites and their sports content posts on the Internet and social media’; 3-‘I trust personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media’; 4-‘Personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media motivate me’; 5-‘Exercising thanks to fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media is the most practical way of exercising’; 6-‘Personal trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media have had a positive impact on the importance of exercising’; 7-‘People who cannot afford any other type of exercising, exercise using personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media’; 8-; ‘One cannot exercise using personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media without any prior knowledge’; 9-‘I have a hard time finding adequate personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media for my exercising’; 10-‘I do not exercise using personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media but via their posts I have enriched my knowledge on exercising’; 11-‘I prefer choosing personal fitness trainers on the Internet and social media according to their looks’; 12-‘The number of followers is a good quality sign of personal fitness trainers’ posts on the Internet and social media’ 30 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 DISCUSSION Firstly, based on the obtained results, we can confirm that non-affirmati - ve attitudes towards SMEC dominate (Affirmative 2.69±0.54; Non-affirmative 3.30±0.74). There can be many reasons for this. For example, you do not need to have any license or diploma to post any type of content related to exercise; there is no form of control or review of the content published on the Internet; it seems that people can post whatever they want as long as the content is not pornographic or discriminatory. On the one hand, it is necessary to protect chil- dren and young people, but, on the other hand, it encroaches on freedom of speech (Ružić, 2008). Furthermore, if we compare the results regarding gender differences, we notice that male users are significantly more affirmative than female. A higher percentage of males play sports, so we can assume that they have more knowledge on this topic, i.e. it would be logical for males to be more critical of the content. Secondly, although the gym-goers say that most of their gained knowledge comes from the gym, probably from fitness trainers working at the gym, still, when using social media as their source of information, users prefer using In- stagram. It comes as no surprise that Instagram is the platform that is curren- tly the trendiest and, as such, the most used by athletes as a platform to post their content. Research has shown that females in elite sports are more likely to post pictures on Instagram, but that males get more attention and comments (Geurin-Eagleman & Burch, 2016). Instagram is a network used by athletes for self-promotion (Smith & Sanderson, 2015; Li, Scott, Naraine & Ruihley, 2021), while social networks are used a lot in sports and by the sports industry and fans, in general (Shahzad, Bajwa, Hussain & Naz, 2021; Anagnostopoulos, Parganas, Chadwick & Fenton, 2018; Calvio, 2013). In addition, studies show that everyday exposure to social media awakens an individual’s creativity and innovation making its user’s profile a reflection of their identity (Kušić, 2010). In other words, if we have acknowledged the im- pact of social media on and in our daily lives, as well as the fact that we use and buy many of the products advertised online, then the issues regarding a fitness trainer’s appearance as a determining factor and the number of their followers as an indicator of their trustworthiness, comes as no surprise. The results indicate that for males, a fitness trainers’ appearance is not the prime reason for following them. The same goes for females who, based on their answers that varied from ‘Agree’ to ‘Disagree’, also state that the appea- rance does not have the expected impact on the determining choice of fitness trainer. This may be, as Soekmawati et al. (2022) explain in their research, in 31 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 direct relationship between gym-users’ age and gender. In other words, they confirmed that the gym-users who said they were influenced by appearance and weight management motives were more likely to identify with physically attractive fitness trainers. Based on the age of our sample (young adults), we believe that extrinsic motives, such as physical appearance, do not seem to motivate them (at least as our small sample is concerned). This is rather a sur- prise since we know that today a lot of young people spend a lot of time trying to look physically attractive and more like some famous social media persona (Jiotsa, Naccache, Duval, Rocher & Grall-Bronnec, 2021; Fardouly, Pinkus & Vartanian 2017; Choukas-Bradley, Nesi, Widman & Higgins, 2019). The se- cond statement, based on the prevailing answers, ‘Nor agree nor disagree’, in- forms us that the number of fitness trainer followers and the quality of their po- sts do not stand as an indicator of their quality and trustworthiness. The reason might be that gym-goers are aware of the complexity of fitness coaching as a profession, i.e. they might believe that, in addition to theoretical and practical knowledge, fitness trainers should master several other professional, scientific and teaching skills (Marković, Marković & Metikoš, 2006). Or, since it has not yet been regulated anywhere, we cannot avoid the question regarding the type of competencies needed for an individual who posts or owns such SMEC. Limitations of the study The fundamental limitation of this study is the rather small and unbalanced sample. The inclusion of a larger sample, perhaps consisting of professional athletes, would complement the available data and provide a more complete picture of the attitudes towards the issues addressed. As the data analysis was conducted in a local gym, further research is needed to generalise the current findings on a more national and international level. Finally, it would be intere- sting if the future studies would do a qualitative research based on which we would get direct answers regarding the issue. CONCLUSION Social media platforms in general have become the most popular means for users to create, share, and receive all kinds of information/content on a daily basis. In this context, many social media users share content about physical 32 Nikolina ALERIĆ, Ana PENJAK, Hrvoje KARNINČIĆ: ATTITUDES TOWARDS EXERCISE CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA ..., 19–35 ANNALES KINESIOLOGIAE • 14 • 2023 • 1 activity, nutrition, fitness activities and sports, consciously or unconsciously influencing the attitudes of a large number of their users. Based on the results of this case study, we can confirm hypothesis H1, which states that respondents are statistically significantly more likely to be non-af- firmative towards SMEC. We can also confirm hypothesis H2, according to which there are statistically significant differences between males and females in affirmative attitudes towards exercising via the Internet and social media. Finally, we can reject hypothesis H3, as there were no confirmed statistically significant differences between males and females in non-affirmative attitudes towards exercise via the Internet and social networks. In conclusion, we can summarise that females tend to choose a fitness trainer based on their appearan- ce more often than males and that the number of followers does not play a role in the decision to follow a fitness trainer’s social media profile. We, therefore, conclude that this study contributes to a better understanding of how gender differentiated users can be motivated to engage in physical ac- tivity by fitness trainers on social media, i.e. it provides insights into how the use of social media related to sports and fitness can influence users’ attitudes towards choosing specific SMEC. Also, we believe that repeating the same stu- dy, after the COVID-19 pandemic, would show significantly stronger results in favour of using SMEC precisely due to the type of exercise and physical contact that was (not) allowed during the pandemic. REFERENCES Adams, S. A. (2010a). 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