People are always saying that Formula 1 does not address social media very well and as a result does not have as many younger fans as perhaps it should have. One has to wonder, however, whether the problem is really one of ignoring the messengers, or whether the younger generations are simply not interested in the message.
The youngsters of today are connected, but they are not necessarily very mobile. They can do things without needing to go places: ordering online, visiting places in the virtual world of Google Earth, texting and tweeting backwards and forwards with their friends, but perhaps not hanging out with them as much as previous generations used to do. They have other things to do. When the older generations were younger we rushed around and played cowboys and indians, nowadays the young fight virtual wars in outer space, build virtual cities, and machine-gun endless virtual bad guys. Fantastic software allows them to do things that earlier generations never dreamed of doing, but heroes are still heroes: Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, Beau Geste, Bulldog Drummond and Richard Hannay have been replaced by Link, Mario and Lara Croft.
The fact remains that the only way to really answer the question about F1 is to connect to the youngsters and ask them. And the best way to do that is to use blogs and Twitter and Facebook and so on… as these are the systems that fit in with the web-based environments in which youngsters live.
There is no question that in recent years, the so-called social media has become one of the most powerful forms of news delivery. One does not need newspapers, news magazines or even the Nine O’Clock News to keep up with what is happening. The Web, blogs, Twitter and Facebook have taken over. But gains in the reach, frequency and immediacy of news have been counterbalanced by losses in quality, expertise and credibility. Media brands become ever more important, because people know that you can trust them – amid all the “clutter” that exists.
The bigger the name, the more followers there will be. When it comes to news, it is only logical that TV commentators will have more followers than traditional print journalists, and in turn they will have more followers than F1 amateur reporters/well-informed fans. However, the difference is that the biggest media Twitter followings belong to those who work for others, not to those with independent voices. They tweet because that is what they are told to do and it is the organisation that gets the benefit, except perhaps when a Twitterer moves to a new job, and can take their audience with them. There have been a couple of times during my career when I moved on and left readers behind, with no means of telling them where I had gone. That will not happen again. Twitter means that one “owns” one’s audience – so long as you continue to give them what they want.
Formula 1 teams use social media because they believe that it makes their fans feel closer to the sport and the argument is that the best way to do this is to personalise things as much as possible. Marketing people say that the younger generations find it easier to relate to people rather than organizations and social media can soften attitudes and lead to better engagement and more loyal fans. Perhaps, but when I read around the Twittersphere in F1 I don’t see a whole lot of real engagement going on, I see intermittent tweets that give little away. The whole thing looks pretty half-hearted, largely because F1 people do not see the up-side of engaging with the fans – unless they have nothing else to do. Some use Twitter as a vehicle for their own egos and tell people what they had for breakfast. There is an over-developed cult of celebrity these days in which some are famous only for being famous, but do people really want to know this stuff and will these stars last longer than Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame?
For the most part, the real value of Twitter seems to be as a way for companies to increase the reach of their promotions, product launches and events, and by doing so generate more income, while at the same time creating more engagement and loyalty. Twitter numbers can also be used as a tool to show the marketing power of an organisation when it is selling itself to sponsors, which will – in theory – result in more lucrative deals. There is an argument too that Twitter helps position companies and individuals as leaders in their particular fields, but they still need to back up the twittering with credible reasons why people should believe this to be the case.
It seems to me that F1 is yet to be convinced of the real value of social media. There may be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but F1 is not really sure where the rainbow ends – and sees little point in trying to find out.
joeblogsf1 
Very thought provoking post Joe. Reminds me of my university thesis I wrote regarding how possible it is for a corporate entity to be socially responsible.
I highly recommend reading Joel Bakan’s “The Crorporation” if you haven’t already… It discusses the day the world decided to separate the business from the individual and thus create a psychopathic organisation that is managed by caring individuals but exists solely to make money for its anonymous investors.
It strikes me as slightly ironic that having built economies on corporate entities that have distanced he individual from its actions, the growth of social media has seen this bug eyed monster try to pretend its one of us… But still with the sole purpose making money for others… Scary? Dishonest? Unethical? Inevitable?
Anyway, I’m sure this wasn’t the point of your post but interesting all the same…
I have noticed that social media can also help establish a new breed of celebrity. There’s people who are famous for their knowledge and getting recognition and a following for it. For example, the @scarbsf1 twitter account and site do a great job of communicating technical intricacies without dumbing it down too much.
Perhaps this is nothing more than social media making it easier for the anoraks to find each other. You’ve oft mentioned how the average punter doesn’t care about the tech but for those of us out there who do, social media is a great way of getting the fix that you just can’t satisfy from traditional mainstream media.
Some teams do a really good job on twitter. Lotus are fantastic, running competitions and really bringing the people closer. Some teams, however, such as Ferrari and McLaren just seem to use it to post news.
you need large followers to make that possible. Glad that kimi brought many fans over to make it possible.
Very thought provoking post Joe. Reminds me of my university thesis I wrote regarding how possible it is for a corporate entity to be socially responsible.
I highly recommend reading Joel Bakan’s “The Crorporation” if you haven’t already… It discusses the day the world decided to separate business from the individual and thus create a psychopathic organisation that is managed by caring individuals but exists solely to make money for its anonymous investors.
It strikes me as slightly ironic that having built economies on corporate entities that have distanced he individual from its actions, the growth of social media has seen this bug eyed monster try to pretend its one of us… But still with the sole purpose making money for others… Scary? Dishonest? Unethical? Inevitable?
Anyway, I’m sure this wasn’t the point of your post but interesting all the same…
Nice piece. Four teams and a driver plus others helping me here http://www.action.org.uk/sponsor/GPD all thanks to their presence and involvement on Twitter.
Interesting one. I read this recently http://www.f1pulse.com/features/specials/201301021/team-principals-hatch-no-tweets Funny how there are basically no team principals in Twitter! Think they should start it off. I am sure they have a lot to offer and they can probably do it the right way as well…
I think time is perhaps limited.
Lack of time for social media is a common complaint I hear from people in the small industry I used to work. But the reality is if you are not paying attention to it you are missing the boat. Great article. I do enjoy Alonso’s posts and pics.
I think that’s (their) perception, and the value they put on it (which is not a lot really). Truth is it takes a fraction of the time a TV interview does. Additionally it can be caught up with later time when a live TV interview mostly gets shown the one time.
Looking to politics and international diplomacy there is a lot being invested in taking time out for twitter (& other social media) as a way to put out a statement or answer direct questions. William Hague (UK Foreign Secretary) has used it to make his main statements on foreign policy and to take Q&As on key issues. I think he’s quite a busy man too.
Part of the hypocrisy of Twitter, as it relates to corporations, celebrities, etc. is that huge numbers of tweets are generated by public relations minions on behalf of the nominal tweeter.
I enjoy social media — blogs, Facebook, etc. — but Twitter is where I’ve drawn my line in the sand.
That said, there was a NASCAR race a year or so ago that was stopped by a massive fire. I”m thinking Montoya was involved, but I could be wrong. All the cars were parked on the oval and drivers and crew (unable, by rule, to tend to the cars) were wandering about, shooting the breeze. Several drivers tweeted text and pix. That might have been fun.
But I’m still passing.
Lack of time is no excuse; there are people who will run an account for you.
Then it will not be you, will it?
I think that there is a deeply introverted conceit among many leadership level people in F1 that they are Serious Busy And Important People, who have little time for fripperies like talking to viewers and engaging with fans.
This attitude has always existed in F1. For decades I have read unflattering comparisons between the levels of media access to drivers and personalities in F1 compared to other forms of motorsport and other sports. However, in the online social media age, the comparison becomes easier for everybody to make,- and comment on.
When I look at many F1 cars these days, I see very few logos for consumer goods corporations compared to 25-30 years ago. Food companies, for example, seem to have all but disappeared – and everybody buys food all of the time. The sponsorship portfolios of most F1 teams are in B2B or occasional purchase sectors, which tends to also militate against continual fan engagement as a marketing strategy.
I agree with Tom: the @Lotus_F1Team do a remarkable job of bringing its fans closer to them. They are very active, even during the winter ‘break’, and regularly post behind-the-scenes pictures during practice, qualy and race.
I dont doubt it, but it is the exception…
One the reasons for the ‘older’ generation not getting involved is perhaps because of the rubbish that gets posted on Facebook et al. Too many ‘liked’ postings rather than original comment, too many ‘kiddie’ competitions.
After 5 years of it I deactivated my Facebook account as I couldn’t see a purpose in being there, had better things to do with my time and I obviously wasn’t the sort of person that it was aimed at.
Another related area where F1 has lagged behind is in making their content available live over the internet.
I live in Australia and our coverage is the race feed from SkyF1. However everything that makes the SkyF1 broadcast good is stripped out. And the 5min advert brakes every 10 minutes…
Here’s an example of the hoops I jumped through and approx costs to follow the full F1 season last year;
– yearly VPN service subscription (to make my PC look like it was based in the UK); ~$100
– sign up for a UK-based parcel forwarding service; $0 (free)
– sign up to Sky Go (online streaming service) with sports using said UK address; ~$54/m ($550/10 months)
That’s approx. $650 that FOM has missed out on. Instead it went both outside of their industry and to the coffers of their customer (but not in the traditional broadcast rights way).
FOM *need* to wake up and stop ignoring the online space lest they get left behind. Have a look at the NBA (US basketball) ‘League Pass’ service – fans can pay a few hundred for a year and watch all the games live and ad free;
http://watch.nba.com/nba/subscribe
A Fan Vision-style online streaming service like that would be very nice and get FOM a fair whack of money through direct sales and build their own market share. There wouldn’t be too many overheads as they’ve already got all the gear for the TV content distribution.
… As an aside, Sky’s online service was pretty woeful. Illegitimate TV streams found elsewhere online have better quality and less time delay. Also the vagaries of streaming video through an oversubscribed 3rd party (especially when the Olympics were on) made a couple of races unwatchable. Because of this it’s unlikely that I’ll be paying any money to watch the upcoming season.
Couldn’t you just point your dish at the right satellite and watch it on the Beeb ? Allright, you’ll only get half of them now, but the highlights are pretty good, and you were probably asleep anyway.
Agree, Lotus and Caterham are both great on Twitter. I mainly use twitter for chatting to other F1 fans. During a gp my twitter feed goes so crazy I can’t keep up with it !
Very rarely use it for talking to close friends, I use text or whatsapp for that.
Same here. Another highlight is some of the ‘fake’ accounts. E.G. The fake Charlie Whiting is a great example (@charlie_whiting) of a very clever fan who makes each GP a bit more fun.
The fake accounts are brilliant ! Fake vivian and nico, v funny š
I think it is also safe to say that most businesses outside of F1 are not convinced either, so I don’t think its that surprising to see little efforts from teams or FOM.
I think for all businesses it is for now more a case of having some sort of presence and activity via social media while you work out what works (and that differs greatly by platform).
It will in any case be the sponsors of teams who will drive engagement via social media more as it will be part of their overall marketing strategy to make the most of their F1 investment and social media is undoubtedly here to stay.
For me twitter has been a great addition to F1. It’s not for everyone, I’ve got mates who have tried it and just cant work out why I like it so much. It just doesn’t click with them. To use an very over-used phrase, it’s a bit marmite.
In the weeks before a race its great for gossip, breaking news and a bit of amusement.
During the race itself it can really add to the event. If the race has a bit of a dull moment its good for a bit of fun. And when something happens Twitter can give you the answer before the TV team has it themselves.
I dont think the F1 teams are too bad with twitter (compared to other companies and sport teams), but I know where you are coming from. They could do more.
The secret is (as you pointed out) to make it personal. If you are just using it as a corporate news feed it just wont work. Lots of companies seem to make that mistake. They say they are ‘engaging’ when really they are only giving minimal effort to fire links to their sponsors at you.
Companies who use it best make it feel more like a conversation rather than a foghorn blasting marketing messages. They make it feel personal. I do think F1 is better than most, but could definitely go further. And you can use it for marketing, but you need to be more creative in how you do that. It’s a different medium and you need to put the effort in and work it in new ways. That has to do with the people at the top treating it seriously.
I find I get the most enjoyment from the non-official F1 sources. To name but a few Sniff Petrol, Grand Prix Diary, WTF1 & Badger GP. I’m not glued to my phone during a race, but it really can add to the whole experience of watching a race. They are of course a totally free to say what they think and can poke fun and things without worrying about a sponsor getting upset.
Honourable mention should go to the drivers. Like anything the negative gets way more coverage than positive, but some drivers have changed how I thought about them. It can humanise them and can show you a different side to them (I’m particularly thinking about Alonso here).
None of the people you mention are involved in F1 in any active way.
I think that is MartynB’s point. This post almost feels like a rehash of a very active post last month where FOM’s business plan was discussed in depth. If I recall correctly Joe emphasized that fans really are not part of the marketing goal of FOM; TV broadcast rights, track fees, and government subsidies were the real profit centers. I and quite a few others commented on the lack of promotion of the sport and that the apparent neglect of us, the fans, might be leading to problems down the road. I still believe fans must be the final leg that supports F1. Whether it is through ticket purchases, which support the tracks, pay per view TV, or the purchase of advertised products in the end it really is the fans who provide the money, by whatever circuitous route. I understand the value of B2B and other corporate successes in F1, but we matter too; this seems to have been forgotten by FOM. I also cannot understand why F1 insists on taking down video of old races on youtube; it seems to me these videos could only increase interest in the ‘sport’ and draw younger fans in.
Yep, that was totally the point I was making. If you want your twitter to connect to people & really engage you need to make it personal. It’s easy for the non-official tweeters to do that granted. But the corporate ones can learn from them, and the are examples of companies doing that successfully.
It’s not as easy as it seems, and I don’t want to be too hard on F1 teams as they are doing something. But get it right & you can engage with a lot of people, on your own terms, for minimal cost.
How about Lewis ? He took his twitter responsibilites very seriously at various stages of last year. š
Yeah, I know what you mean, it goes without saying that was not his finest hour. But that said, it was good getting real opinion and not dull answers that you get on TV.
Every time we hammer someone for voicing an honest opinion with real emotion it makes it less likely we will see that again & more likely to get a bland statement. Think I could guess every driver’s answer to Lee McKenzie at the end of their race. I know which I’d rather see.
It’s a really interesting field and with the exception of Lotus, I think social media in F1 is handled relatively poorly.
It’s too easy to rank the accounts by follower numbers, while these hold some importance, the real focus should be on organic reach and virality.
A lot of the teams (McLaren being the example that springs to mind) are normally always just a regurgitation of press releases and marketing.
Some research conducted last summer by a high profile Social Media agency actually ranked McLaren’s Facebook as THE WORST team in terms of engagement (1%) which is a long way below the industry average. Somewhat predictably, Mercedes and Lotus were the highest, around 10% each.
In terms of attracting the youth in social, I think YouTube and instagram are key areas for the teams to focus on, their audiences are always younger on average.
How long for Instagram though? Their recent policy changes turned an awful lot of users away.
They did a u-turn and ditched the changes.
Ahhhh.. did not hear about that.
CaterhamF1 also is very good at keeping the fans and anyone else updated with what’s going on, from winter daily updates and from the wall during races. Very interesting stuff to.
The best value that I find in Twitter related to sports actually comes from the journalists covering a specific team or series. Rather than wait for a traditional article the next morning, they can share news and impressions in real time. At first I resisted the idea of watching a live event and following Twitter simultaneously. Now I do that whenever possible, with Twitter filling in if I can’t watch the game or race in real time.
While I don’t ‘tweet’ much, I do find the interplay between fans through hashtags, and also with those same journalists on occasion, engaging and informative. And while there are some blowhards and idiots, it all moves fast enough to ignore them.
As for actual sports stars and Twitter, most of that falls under the categories of either professional marketing/promotion (worthless) or stupid banalities as athletes try to be quick, funny, or pithy… and usually fail. Only a few with interesting personalities are worth any time at all For example, just yesterday Kamui Kobayashi tweeted, “Way to Brazil but its gonna be a long flight already with baby crying just behind my seat. Lewis Hamilton seems very genuine on Twitter (i.e. he actually tweet himself) and if you want to see pics of Nicole he is one to follow!
As for F1… Twitter is not something that can be managed at corporate levels. It needs to grow on its own. One thing F1 can do is promote hashtags that relate to engaging ideas (one I thought of this past season was #whereiskimi?), and then get fans to interact around that theme. Getting some younger fans to actively participate on Twitter would be a good start. Have a contest and select a group to travel to races, tweeting about the whole rolling circus adventure (Joe – often your posts on traveling and other non-race related things are the most interesting and help me better understand F1). In the US Major League baseball has done this with good effect. But of course that would require and actual budget and the expenditure of money…
As social media marketing is my job, I’ve kept a careful eye on how the teams have been using social media over the last 4 or so years. In general, those that were conversational at the start are still conversational. Others have learnt – or got different people in. Some have never got it and have have no signs of understanding what can be done. The take up of the channels depends on the priority the teams have on such marketing and if they employ people who can activate in them. I know that teams like Marussia and Caterham deliberately focused on social media as they didn’t have the budget, name recognition or sponsors to work in other channels at the start.
Coming from the other direction – the sponsors – there is a growing push from them to use social media channels and to connect with their customers through social. I know sponsorship contracts are increasingly likely to include requirements to allow sponsors to use rights-holders social media, to get cross promotion and vice versa (not necessarily F1, we do other sports/events sponsorship).
So a team focusing on building their social profiles now have another thing that can be used for a sponsor deal – and i think there will be pressure from sponsors on teams to up their game.
To me twitter is the domain of those who live their lives breathing through their phones. It falls into the same category as celebrities locked in a house, idiots from Essex, or upper class twits from Chelsea doing nothing in particular but apparently the subject of rapt attention from those with nothing to do but waste time.
It is, what it is called, twittering! An irritating excited noise of little or no consequence made by small birds. š
Yes I’m an old git, how did you guess. I do have twitter account but find that in order to follow even the few people I do, it is a full time job, so I just leave it alone and spend my time on blogs instead. Mind, the garage needs another twin socket and tree way light switching installed but it is miserable and cold outside and I still have heating oil left.
Why do the FIA not have an official communal team message board? Surely that would fulfil the need of all teams to say what they wanted and plant thoughts and misdirections, oh and news too I suppose.
That’s an Irish three way switch”
Twitter’s what you make of it. Dismissing it just because some (ok, many) post inconsequential dross is like dismissing books just because Katie Price has some drivel ghost-written for her.
Hey ! don`t diss ESSEX !!! Eleven group flew out of there on occasion! Also the noise birds make has some significance to them surely?
I’ll see your Essex and rise you Lincolnshire!
As far as I can tell, 11 Group was carrier based, and operated in the south China seas/Vietnam area. Later deployed in the Gulf.
If I were marketing a product to 12 year old girls, Twitter would be ideal as a viral medium.
Lincolnshire was bombers! Eleven Group was commanded by Keith R Park.
Air Vice-Marshal. Carriers ? Another innovation perfected by Brits!
Right. But did they fly back in again?
Yes, if Luftwaffe had not shot them down.
Joe earns some street cred for saying Link and not Zelda
Thank you.
+1. Yes I noticed that too. š
Never heard of Link, but I read Biggles, Swallows and Amazons, Jennings etc as a boy. Zelda was witch on a children’s tv series.
Twitter also allows drivers to put a foot in their own mouth (or, as one did, to put their confidential telemetry data online). Is that worth it? I once read a Juan Pablo Montoya tweet about eating at Red Lobster (a sponsor). Would Senna tweet something like that?
I’m a little young to remember Senna’s career in the main, but from the Senna documentary I get the impression he might have been quite a prolific tweeter of rather forthright opinions.
I think it would have depended on the point of his career. Sometimes he was very closed to the world.
Understandable when you consider the media pressure, sponsorship commitments and the FIA President on your case. Nigel Roebuck was critical of him for behaving like this, yet what does he know…
I have a theory that a driver like Senna – and Michael Schumacher also springs to mind – would be wary of revealing anything too valuable to the outside world.
Fair point, although any tweet to do with the team and the car would be handled by the teams press officer, perhaps.
Anything personal should be tweeted by the driver and one wonders what Ayrton would tweet? Maybe something deep and metaphysical.
Nigel Mansell’s tweets on the other hand… š
Speaking as one the more ‘mature’ fans I get a little fed up the pre-occupation with attracting ‘yoof’. I was young once you know! From what I remember, starting from the 60’s in my case, motor racing has always attracted a broad cross-section of age ranges. If F1 doesn’t attract the younger audience it’s largely the fault of the organising bodies for charging too much including the cost of merchandising. You’re dead right about Twitter. To engage with fans all F1 needs to do is make everything cheaper – it would be a start.
The problem is that when you fall off your perch, who is going to watching F1?
My seven-year-old watches F1 and seems to enjoy it without a twitter feed in his face. Cars go fast and kids like it for what it is. He sits on the floor and acts out a race with his diecast. He doesn’t need anyone tweeting at him what to like or how good it is. We watched the Brazil GP last night and he was excited. The point of this comment is that the product ought to be the draw; not a simulacrum of the product.
For those of us with one leg off the perch it will not be a problem! it may dwindle and die out or some thing will take it`s place . I was thinking of the era when BUGATTI was providing machines to compete? I am sure a lot of fretting was going on at their demise?
Ah yes, I remember the perch, I’m looking up at it now.
I not think it’s an issue frankly – you still see a broad range of ages at races. You may have a few figures Joe on the profile of the average fan but lets face it the most people who work in F1 itself but not young nerds (only some) but highly skilled and experienced professionals. In fact only the drivers may fall into the former category. Following F1 is a very expensive hobby these days, too expensive for many youngsters I would have thought, which leads me believe that they are not the target market. F1 always follows the money doesn’t it and older fans are probably most able to afford it. Perhaps that is why the approach to social media seems half-hearted.
The statistics are pretty disastrous and teams are beginning to realise it is a problem.
I’m 1/2 the way thru “Saboteurs” and you deserve a very well done. Looking forward to Crippen. What’s next J?
Do I win irony points for retweeting this article?
Nothing is new. You live in France Joe. When the King ‘tweeted’ in his court in Versailles, it was exactly the same in effect, as media types tweeting today. The news/thoughts/manipulative information filtered down through the entourage and had the intended effect (they hoped). The people that mattered were influenced as required. Reaction was gauged and the next ‘tweet’ would be considered and subsequently delivered. Nothing has changed.
f1 teams haven’t fully embraced twitter, but i for one appreciate their efforts so far. admittedly many other sports serve fans better, but i really enjoy insight from teams during a race.
photos from the grid, paddock or pitlane, explanation of car failures, and for the backmarkers, insight into battles the tv director is missing. fabulous additional context that can enhance any live gp.
if only that race weekend insight could be extended throughout the rest of the season, they’d be on to something š
I quite enjoy @thefifthdriver’s Friday question sessions – very insightful and most definitely on the inside (if somewhat media managed). Checo seems to also be very active, as is Jenson. I am not a rabid fan of any particular team but their combined twitter presence does draw me closer to them as a group than others.
Still, it’s all about the mechanics for me.
The problem is Bernie. He has created a stultified sport and snuffed out any innovation that does not directly make him money. As soon as he is gone, F1 can evolve into this millenium. I have faith that all that is needed is a new vision at the top and a few new star drivers at the bottom willing to take a few chances. Less greed, more risk taking FTW.
Slightly off subject as far as social media is concerned, but I’m always struck when I watch Question of Sport on the Beeb how little everyone knows about F1. They know about golf and bobsleighs and syncronised swimmers, and even rugby league and darts, but almost nothing about F1. I’m not sure that’s because of lack of tweets, it’s just something about it not any more being on average sports fan’s radar. I reckon in the days of Stirling Moss, general knowledge was higher.
Why should this be ?
Try explaining football in a few sentences – it’s fairly simple. Try explaining F1 in a few sentences – although you can say it’s cars racing, you need to start mentioning qualifying, inter-team rivalries, engineering, aerodynamics, testing bans and phases etc. It’s not a simple concept like many sports.
For instance a non-football fan cam generally wing their way through a conversation in a pub, but I find most non f1 fans would struggle with even a general discussion with more detail than ‘did Lewis Hamilton win this one?’
I think this is why I got quite annoyed when ‘hardcore’ fans slatted off the BBC coverage for much of it’s ‘if you’re new to F1’ style coverage. It drew in millions of viewers who had not watched before. Sky has followed the formula in a half hearted way but nobody is really watching so I suppose the average QoS appearance won’t know much about F1 other than Lewis and jenson are the Brits and some Schumacher used to win everything.
Kicking a ball.
Racing cars.
Your point?
Aura
Try explaining the LBW rule to a Uruguayan and two French people after a few glasses of Vino Collapso, red of course!
Many years ago when the British GP was on a Saturday there used to be a charity cricket match on the Sunday. I only went to the cricket once, 1970-something, Derek Bell and James Hunt were trying to explain cricket to Niki Lauda, Ronnie Peterson etc. I’ve never seen such confused expressions on people’s faces.
Martin
P.S. Not that this has anything to do with Twitter but I thought I’d mention it anyway.
On my way home from work I intend to watch the 24 Hours of Dubai on my phone. Then I plan to walk the dog to the bar and watch a bit on my tablet or laptop there. When I get home tonight I can watch on my TV. This is very high quality coverage in both picture quality and commentary.
For Formula One in the states they stream P1 and P3 online but not onto mobile devices unless you have a cable provider that I can’t get in my area. In addition they include no commentary. Indycar puts its races on youtube after they air but the quality has been atrocious. ALMS streams online but not onto mobile devices.
I understand that all racing series want to utilize social media but when there is not a flow back you are destined to fail. Most of my fellow race fans also have tablets, phones and fancy TVs. Nearly all under 35 have these devices. If you want to entice these people to first of all watch racing and then spread the love online then you have to get the racing to them. Charge a few bucks. Make them register. But if the answer is no then they will find something else that is available on their terms. And no amount of tweets and likes is going to change that.
Excellent post… made me think… provided an insightful perspective I had not considered before…
I can totally understand the youngster.
F-1 today is becoming very very boring with its pay drivers, rotten tires and deep frozen engines. And Luca and Bernie should better shut up…
You have not been to a race for a while then…
Since when were pay drivers something new?
Enjoyable original thought provoking column instead of the usual rehash and filler online until the season gets going, so thank you for that. I think social media is still very much in it’s infancy as the me too people jump in just to be present. Being an F1 fan who appreciates engineering and practical thinking I look at the practical aspects of social media such as letting people know you have changed venues to keep readers etc. MASTER IT AND BUILD YOUR BRAND if you provide a RELEVANT service!!! I like the fact the talent ends up with more control and hopefully reaping some additional benefit, so a good platform to assist the contributors of the world.
Do we need to know what the average person is doing on a minute by minute basis…not so much. Do I care about Lewis Hamiltons holiday ….NO. Do I like it when Alonso kicks Marko in the nads via twitter…yes, but only because Marko is becoming annoying. Give me facts that benefit from immediacy such as Williams giving away 10 pit passes at the GP in 10 minutes, meet Alonso after practice etc. IMMEDIACY combined with the offering of tangible value is the key (material or non material value).
For what it’s worth, I’m a young one and I love F1 just the way it is… I hope I’m not the exception for too long though!
There is some social media being produced about F1, WTF1 or Loosewheelnut to name two, but the official pages are far too static and rigid in what they provide. While they do present the information and details there’s no feeling of there being a back and forth response going on. It’s much like we’ve posted a photo of the new factory/car/helmet; and wont be reading comments or responding to messages.
The most adept of the teams so far has been Lotus since they signed Raikkonnen, in their rewarding of fan sites, photoshops, use of twitter with responses and have so far been more open to the younger audience. It might not seem like a lot but in Malaysia they decided to poke fun at Kimi’s 2009 ice cream eating, which probably would have been the highlight of the race if not for one Sergio Perez.
Agreed. Social media will help. But I think that television is still the king fame-maker, and in the case of racing it still has huge room for improvement in conveying the visceral ferocity of the spectacle, and ergo, its drawing power. Is there any other sport that loses as much in the airwaves-transmission as motorsport? Example: during TV footage in-car, an F1 motor sounds like a gelded Cuisinart Ā®.
How true, the gelded Cuisinart! Until you have been to a race you can’t imagine the sound of those engines. There is a great youtube video of the Renault V-10 on a testbed – the sound is incredible; it seems like it should just blow up. The incar cameras, with their wide angle lenses, distorts the front wing and scenery too much, IMHO. You are correct, there is a long way to go with TV.
I saw a quote attributed to Einstein: “I fear the day that technology will
surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”
Tweet that!
I think the missing link is Youtube. I rarely watch television these days. Everything you want to watch is on there on demand. Youtube is investing in it own content (for example the excellent “Drive” channel) and whats to say that in the next 5 or so years it continues to surpass regular television? The FOM could experiment with GP2 and free practice sessions which generally aren’t shown in a number of countries.
While I believe F1 should get involved in social media, if they’re not going to embrace it and utilise it properly, then it’s better that they keep away.
Having no presence is better than a poor presence. The number of companies that try to use the “latest & greatest” only to then not post anything or not interact with their customers/followers.
Prescient, Joe? NASCAR has announced its new “Fan and Media Engagement Center” to monitor social media in real time.
This article has photos of the facility and quotes from the people involved. (The news is a couple of days old, but these are the first photos I’ve seen).
http://www.racer.com/nascar-unique-technology-will-help-enhance-fan-experience/article/276085/
Also, I thought this was interesting, too: http://www.motorracingnetwork.com/Race-Series/Track-News/News/Articles/2013/01/Pocono-Announces-Fan-Council.aspx