“I’m not interested in tweeting, Facebook and whatever this nonsense is. I couldn’t see any value in it. The challenge is getting the audience in the first place.”
These were the words of Bernie Ecclestone, when asked about how F1 needs to be engaging the fans, especially the upcoming generation, more to the sport. In the full interview, Bernie talked about how difficult it is to sell the brand to young people, and the importance of people with money, who are able to attend race weekends. In this article, we will look at the impact social media is already having on F1, the potential drawbacks it has, and what more can be down to embrace the fans.
F1 Embracing Social Media
In the last decade, the phenomenon of social media has taken over the world. Through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many other outlets, it has never been easier to communicate and connect with people from all over the world. Never is this more evident than in Twitter. Users can send and read short 140-character messages called “tweets”. These tweets can be shared by anyone who reads them by the use of the Re-tweet option. These posts can also be hash-tagged to mark keywords and topics within that post, and added to a list of tweets containing the same hash-tag, which is called a trend, and through these hash-tags and trends people with the same interests can come together, anywhere in the world, to discuss the matter on hand.
So how does F1 embrace social media? All the teams have official Twitter and Facebook accounts. Many of the teams actually interact with their fans, especially on Twitter. The other day, Mercedes, who had just became the first F1 team to reach a million followers, had a special day dedicated to their fans, where they put their account on lock-down, which only their followers could view, and held numerous competitions, and question and answer sessions. In addition to quizzes and interaction, the teams use social media to share the launch of their 2015 car. In doing this, and with the aid of Re-tweeting, their car launch gets as much exposure as possible, and teams can see by fans comments on what their feelings are. Also, when on track, the teams are good at giving up-to-date information on current goings on, by posting lap times, grid positions, pit stops, and various other things.
What about the drivers? The vast majority of drivers have and use Twitter and Instagram. Like the teams, some of the drivers interact more than others do on it. Some use it occasionally for just F1-related news, while others use it like a diary, an insight to their lives, which enhances their reputation to the fans. Sebastian Vettel doesn’t have an official account, and even though he has many loyal supporters, you have to wonder how much bigger is fan base would be if he did have Twitter or Instagram. One of the most frequent users is Lewis Hamilton. He regularly engages his fans with tweets of thanking them for their support, and using Instagram to post numerous pictures of his life away from the track. He has his supporters under the hash-tag as “#TeamLH”, and at end of last year, got his fans involved in doing a video of “TeamLH”, which they contributed to. Lewis has always gone on about fan support, and how much it means to him, and with the aid of Twitter and Instagram, he is not only able to include them more, but also sees the support his fans give him.
And that brings us onto the fans. The arms and legs of the sport. The way the fans interact on social media is truly remarkable. On Twitter, there is a feeling of a community, some call it a family, and no matter what team or driver you support, in the whole, there is a lot of respect and playful banter between fans, and even teams alike. You wouldn’t find this level of respect in other big sports, especially in football, where you are defined by what team colours you wear, and are open for ridicule and abuse. No more evident was the community and togetherness of the fans on social media than was in the aftermath of Jules Bianchi’s horrific crash in Suzuka. Instantly the fans came together, and with the power of the hash-tag, showed their support and love by trending “#ForzaJules”, and also changing their username to this, and creating a twibbon as well. The drivers joined in this as well, and even to this day, many of them still post “#ForzaJules” at times. That following week, a day was set aside for fans to show their support by reading red, the colour of Bianchi’s team Marussia, and also because he is a Ferrari academy driver. It was called “#DressForJules” and had 11,909 participants. Jules, along with Michael Schumacher, is on the long road to recovery, and the support that the fans are showing to both, with the aid of social media, is a remarkable thing, and must be a level of comfort for their loved ones.
So what are the pitfalls of social media? There are two immediate ones. First, is the basic social media problem. With the huge exposure that Twitter gives, it opens up the trolls of the internet. Even though I say that F1 doesn’t have the problem that football brings with its vile and abusive fans, there is still a very small minority who have to ridicule and belittle people on here, whether it be fans or drivers, and until social media get better policy on policing these trolls, then this problem will always be there. Second, is that F1 doesn’t forget the fans attending race weekends. There is no point spending a whack of money attending a Grand Prix, if you can a better experience watching from your own bed. The sport needs to also look at how to embrace the fans who attend race meetings, otherwise the dwindling attendances will come down even more.
So what does F1 need to do more? At the current moment, the teams are doing a stellar job at how they use social media, but can they be improvements? Yes, of course, like an F1 car itself, there is always way to develop and improve. How do they do that? Going back to Mercedes and their special day, they showed how it can be done. Teams do Q and As, but not all of them, and the ones that do, is it enough? That’s a debatable question that some fans will argue on, but the interaction between teams varies, and some of the teams can learn from the likes of Mercedes in that respect. It harder to say that the drivers can do much more however, as even though they are public figures, and most of their accounts are verified, it still is personal their accounts, and even though it may be frustrating for fans of a certain driver who barely tweets or interacts, it should be understood that it is their choice, and you cannot force them to post if they don’t feel a desire to. It is the FIA who is the one that needs to vastly improve their social media output. Where the teams and drivers frequently tweet and post on their accounts, FIA rarely does. Compared to Mercedes, who have over 33,700 tweets, FIA have only tweeted 1,353 times. FIA needs to embrace this phenomena more, and interact with fans. A way of doing this is by having Q and A sessions and competitions, just like Mercedes and many of the teams do. Another way to engage fans more is by making a Q and A tweet session with the podium drivers’ after a races press conference. It one thing answering a journalist’s question, but how much better for the sport would it be if were to have its top athletes answering the fans’ questions? No other top sport I know does this, and if F1 were to be the first, they would be setting the bar, and be pioneers for the rest of the sporting world in showing and embracing the power of this tool.
And that is the thing, social media is a tool. A component, like ERS-K, which the teams use to enhance their outfit. People may disregard the importance of this tool to the sport, but we all agree that the fans can feel alienated by F1 at times. Social media is the path to get the supporters feeling closer to F1, and bring a new wave of fans in too. With the more interaction, the closer will feel to the sport, then more people will start to attend race weekends, and that is why Bernie is wrong, and that F1 does need to embrace social media.
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