Understanding How Athletes Use the Feed
A research study on what athletes do in the Strava feed and why.
The feed is the center of the Strava experience, so we’re always working to better understand how athletes use it. We know that some athletes choose to follow only a few friends for a more intimate feed experience, while others follow hundreds. Some use the feed to join challenges, clubs or join in conversations. What they each see or want to see in the feed may vary.
Over the last month, we interviewed Strava athletes from around the world to learn more about who they follow, how they use the feed and how they interact with different kinds of content. We plan to use what we learned to create more personalized feed experiences that show athletes the information they care about the most.
Research Method and Participant Criteria
We chose participants for this study to maximize representation across different countries and levels of engagement. To learn as quickly as possible, we focused on English-speaking countries and spoke with athletes from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Switzerland, UK, and different parts of the U.S.A.
In remote 1-on-1 interviews, we asked participants questions to:
- Understand what athletes are engaging with in the feed and why
- Identify any feed-related questions or confusions, if any
- Learn how athletes think and feel about kudos, comments, click through and sharing to other social networks.
We also asked participants to use their feed while thinking aloud. During this exercise, we observed their behaviors and asked follow-up questions in real time. Coupling interview questions and a think-aloud exercise allowed us to dive deeper into what athletes do in the feed and why.
Key Learnings
One hypothesis was that an athlete’s level of engagement would affect his or her behavior in the feed. To test this hypothesis, we segmented athletes into three cohorts: athletes who have used Strava once, a handful of times and many times during the month. We observed different behaviors (e.g., participation in athletic clubs, following pro athletes) across levels of engagement. However, an important finding was that levels of engagement did not affect feed behavior.
Thus the following findings apply to all of the study’s participants, regardless of how much they use Strava.
1. Athletes Want to Keep Their Network Intimate
Almost all of these athletes describe their ideal network as an intersection of close relationships and athletes who participate in the same activity. This enables them to keep up to date and learn from their network.
“Now that I’m in school, it lets me connect with my family… I can see how they’re doing through their rides and races.” - Sara, triathlete
“A close friend lives in Seattle now and one in Colorado. We used to ride every Saturday together. [It’s] good to see how they’re doing.” - Andrew, cyclist
“I follow people that I’m invested in personally. People I care about.” - Anna, cyclist
Athletes specifically do not want to add all of their Facebook friends who are on Strava. They worry that doing so would just create a large and impersonal network.
“It’s the people I care about that’s seeing my stuff. I’m not in it for the followers. I’m not trying to be Strava famous.” - Sara, triathlete
“I haven’t looked for everyone [that is] on my Facebook [that is also] on Strava. I don’t want to be overloaded and just flick through.” - Simon, cyclist
This is also why most of these athletes either rarely or don’t share their Strava activity on other social networks. Instead, they choose to regularly share their athletic updates on Strava.
“[I share my Strava activities on Facebook] very rarely. Not everyone is a cyclist. It doesn’t mean anything to them.” - Simon, cyclist
“Sharing with people that are actually interested in bike racing and running is enough for me.” - Dave, cyclist
2. Giving and Getting Support Matters
Athletes use the feed to support each other. Those we interviewed used kudos and comments to acknowledge and encourage athletes they care about. Sometimes lovingly, sometimes jokingly. They give kudos based on relationships (e.g., club member, gym buddy, family member), to praise a special activity (e.g., long run, achievement, streak), or both.
“We ride with them. They’re part of the community. If they’re out, I’ll [give] kudos. 95% of the kudos are from the same group.” - Anna, cyclist
“I give kudos to people who took some effort. A friend goes on a 100 km bike, you deserve it.” - Daniel, runner
“I rarely comment. If I comment, it’s very short. To say congratulations or be a smartass.” - Andrew, cyclist
3. A Source of Learning, Discovery, and Motivation
Athletes we spoke with also use the feed to help them improve. Through the feed, they compare and compete with other athletes, discover new routes and races, and tap into it as a source of inspiration. They are attracted to posts from athletes that are at the same level or better in the same activity, especially posts with a description or photos. Many athletes we interviewed used this data to set goals, create training plans, and as friendly competition to push themselves to become better.
“I follow well known ultrarunners in this area. There are a couple of people in my age group. I want to see what they’re doing. It’s helpful to know how they’re training, and watching how their speed changes workout to workout versus average runners. It validates my fitness and training.” - Cheryl, runner
“He posted in the description of it being tough and lots of humidity. I’m interested in that. I want tips.” - Michael, runner
“I look at almost everyone on my feed, but some things I don’t look at. I don’t plan on doing a triathlon, so swimming and biking doesn’t matter to me. I look at the runs.” - Austin, runner
“If that person can get up at 4:30 a.m. and run 10 miles before work, so can I.” - Cheryl, runner
Next Steps
We used the findings from this research to fuel discussions on how the feed experience should evolve to be more personalized for every athlete. For example, if Strava athletes keep smaller, intimate networks of followers, that limits the amount of new content (e.g., inspiring races and routes, activity data) they can discover on the feed. However, they use these types of content to meet their self-improvement needs. How might we achieve these conflicting objectives? This question, along with many more, has inspired us to conduct more studies like this one. Creating the most personal and useful feed experience for every Strava athlete is a never-ending goal, and we want to be sure the improvements we make are rooted in research.
