Social Media

[GTRMagic]

Race drivers are funny people.
The week out help from sponsors and teams and patrons and anyone else that helps them land a ride in their chosen team.

The thing that is sometimes forgotten is how the money flows in the sport.

You and me and anyone you know or don’t know, goes out in the world, usually earning a living, and spend some, all or more than all of that living on creating a life for yourself.

And as keen Motorsport followers, we choose to follow drivers, and teams and brands, and car makes and pretty much anything we choose. It may or may not change our purchasing decisions too. That’s the sponsors’ intentions anyway.

And some drivers understand that they have supporters, some more keen/intense than others. And that they are going to have opinions about whether someone is running good, or their car brand is running good, or if the team is running good.

This kind of stuff ends up in the media too, the newspapers, the teev, radio, and Facebook/instagram/twitter and the like. Which is used to help quantify the success of a sponsor’s investment as much as anything else.

So the following quote from Here is interesting...

Originally Posted by The Article, Attributed To Fabian Coulthard

“People who sit behind their keyboards don’t necessarily know the ins and outs of racing; social media has probably given people a voice when they shouldn’t have a voice and we are the ones that cop it.”

It makes you wonder if he truly knows how the industry works, or what the point of marketing communications actually are.

Apparently the very people who buy the products from companies that pay for the driver to live his dream, “...shouldn’t have a voice...”. That is you and me Mr Coulthard seems to be talking about here.

Yet the very same voice we seemingly are not allowed to have, is called upon when they are successful or winning, or when their sponsor is looking to promote their products with a view to encouraging switching between brands.

An elegant solution may have been to allow Mr Coulthard’s driving do the talking, but clearly a group of fans talking about a legitimate comparison to a more successful teammate isn’t allowed..

Weird

[Forda]

Not all race fans are on social media though.

Can you provide a link to what was posted?

[Umai Naa]

The comments and personal attacks aimed at drivers, team members, officals, and sponsors are often quite disturbing.

[Driver TBA]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

The comments and personal attacks aimed at drivers, team members, officals, and sponsors are often quite disturbing.

It's horrendous. One troll sinks the boots in and then 100 other nodding dogs chime in.

I can understand Fabs. Imagine trying to interact with your genuine fans and having to sift through the derogatory comments directed at you.


Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[mayhem]

Yeah, its a two way street. I don't blame Fabs (or any other driver/sports star) for getting the shits with the level of trolling/negativity on social media. But whinging about it and painting everyone with the same brush doesnt help.

[Average Punter]

What did Lady Gaga say yesterday?

"Social media is the toilet of the internet..."

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by Average Punter

"Social media is the toilet of the internet..."

I'll misquote Tom Lehrer:

"Social media is like a sewer; what you get out of it depends on what you get into it"

I think Fabs would do well to think himself lucky he's not an AFL or NRL player....

[M91]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Race drivers are funny people.
The week out help from sponsors and teams and patrons and anyone else that helps them land a ride in their chosen team.

The thing that is sometimes forgotten is how the money flows in the sport.

You and me and anyone you know or don’t know, goes out in the world, usually earning a living, and spend some, all or more than all of that living on creating a life for yourself.

And as keen Motorsport followers, we choose to follow drivers, and teams and brands, and car makes and pretty much anything we choose. It may or may not change our purchasing decisions too. That’s the sponsors’ intentions anyway.

And some drivers understand that they have supporters, some more keen/intense than others. And that they are going to have opinions about whether someone is running good, or their car brand is running good, or if the team is running good.

This kind of stuff ends up in the media too, the newspapers, the teev, radio, and Facebook/instagram/twitter and the like. Which is used to help quantify the success of a sponsor’s investment as much as anything else.

So the following quote from Here is interesting...



It makes you wonder if he truly knows how the industry works, or what the point of marketing communications actually are.

Apparently the very people who buy the products from companies that pay for the driver to live his dream, “...shouldn’t have a voice...”. That is you and me Mr Coulthard seems to be talking about here.

Yet the very same voice we seemingly are not allowed to have, is called upon when they are successful or winning, or when their sponsor is looking to promote their products with a view to encouraging switching between brands.

An elegant solution may have been to allow Mr Coulthard’s driving do the talking, but clearly a group of fans talking about a legitimate comparison to a more successful teammate isn’t allowed..

Weird

It's fair to say that everyone has their right to an opinion, but drivers and teams also shouldn't have to put up with some of the rubbish that is written on social media. Have you read some of the uneducated dribble that's written on social media, I honestly wonder how some people make it though life with such a low IQ.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by M91

It's fair to say that everyone has their right to an opinion, but drivers and teams also shouldn't have to put up with some of the rubbish that is written on social media. Have you read some of the uneducated dribble that's written on social media, I honestly wonder how some people make it though life with such a low IQ.

And they likely fill up their cars at Shell, buy bits & pieces at Repco and fill the pantry with Mighty Mite and 333 pickles....

[mayhem]

I was with ya until the pickles.

[Umai Naa]

I stopped at Repco.

[bella]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

And they likely fill up their cars at Shell, buy bits & pieces at Repco and fill the pantry with Mighty Mite and 333 pickles....

cheers gtr, i just had to think before midday on a saturday

you’re completely right. drivers rely on supporters being easily influenced by sponsorship messages, and the flipside of that is that is that their opinions about drivers are easily influenced too.

i think the quote you highlight is typical of a driver - motorsport is incredibly complex, yes, but it’s incredibly complex for everybody on that grid. he has a great life, beautiful family, a fantastic job, and the only drawback is millions of people moaning online about a character he plays in a racing series...

that’s privilege for you i guess.

[Casper]

Full disclosure, I do not participate in social media beyond some fora. Sebastian Vettel also refuses to participate and I congratulate him for having the independence to give it the single finger. I was told that the single best thing I can do to promote my business was to have a FB page, I then looked and saw and decided no thanks, talk about a sewer of uninformed comments, just unbelievable. The world got along just fine before social media and it will again when people wake up to what is going on.

[Tourer]

It goes both ways with social media - Fabs (or anyone else) can agree with posts about him and thank them, or as in this case, he can disagree with them and tell them so.

Let's not forget that "trolls" and social media users exhibiting abusive and bullying behaviour have been at least partially blamed for celebrity suicide and mental health issues before now so standing up to them and making a point like Fabs is quoted as doing seems quite legitimate to me.

Most people not on teams (including media) really don't know all the ins and outs and certainly not the details of exactly what is happening in a particular team, regardless of how much some of them think that they "know".

Then there's that "line" to avoid crossing, when it all gets too personal and abusive - such as the situation here with a defamation finding against a social media "troll".

To me, Fabs has every right to make a point about it - he is not after all some meek little lamb simply copping it - and is in this case making a non-abusive but fairly on-point case.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Let's not forget that "trolls" and social media users exhibiting abusive and bullying behaviour have been at least partially blamed for celebrity suicide and mental health issues before now so standing up to them and making a point like Fabs is quoted as doing seems quite legitimate to me.

don't think anyone would doubt that. it's why there's increasing numbers of tools that allow people to set up their social media according to their preference. it's possible to participate without submitting yourself to endless abuse - for example disable comments on instagram, mute people on twitter, and the block button on both.

there's no shame in using those facilities. or just using your public profiles to post, nobody forces him to read his comments or those on team or series accounts.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Casper

I was told that the single best thing I can do to promote my business was to have a FB page, I then looked and saw and decided no thanks, talk about a sewer of uninformed comments, just unbelievable.

My wife runs her business solely via Facebook. Never had a bad comment or uninformed comment.

On the other hand the sector I work in has a variety of Facebook groups which attract comments bordering on the obscene.

[Umai Naa]

It's usually interest-based pages and groups that attracted the worst of the worst.

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Then there's that "line" to avoid crossing, when it all gets too personal and abusive - such as the situation here with a defamation finding against a social media "troll".

If Kelvin went back 10-ish years across here and a couple of other forums, there could be some interesting cases, stories, and outcomes

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by chavez

My wife runs her business solely via Facebook. Never had a bad comment or uninformed comment.

On the other hand the sector I work in has a variety of Facebook groups which attract comments bordering on the obscene.

Yes, those glowingly businesses are so very cool. Good on her!!

[Mixer]

The truth is, I've been as critical of Fabian as anybody, but I wouldn't say he has been "trolled" like the Mustang, or like Roland Dane.

It is, after all a fair question of just where Fabian has been while his teammate has been stealing all the glory.

If you bank the cheque that comes with a job that involves a little bit of fame, whatever the size of the pond, you have to take the good with the bad. So my message to Fabs: suck it up princess.

I really like the way Garth Tander engages on social media - he has his detractors but he comes across as very honest and the social media reaction to his dumping recently was informative.

[Umai Naa]

Mr Tander isn't afraid to call people out when they're having a shot at him.

But you've got to have the runs on the board...

[Casper]

Originally Posted by bella

don't think anyone would doubt that. it's why there's increasing numbers of tools that allow people to set up their social media according to their preference. it's possible to participate without submitting yourself to endless abuse - for example disable comments on instagram, mute people on twitter, and the block button on both.

there's no shame in using those facilities. or just using your public profiles to post, nobody forces him to read his comments or those on team or series accounts.

I often wonder why those who say they are subject to internet bullying simply do not turn it off and lead a normal life. When are people going to learn that there is a growing problem of "professional" trolls who just want to wind people up because they get a kick out of it. The off switch fixes that properly.

[Sandgroper]

Social media can work both ways.

Both good and bad

But generally the Bad outweighs the good as most keyboard warriers would never say to someones face what they say online about them.

[GTRMagic]

Errrrr...

[Umai Naa]

That's great, if you're like 12.