Social Media versus Old Media

[RagingBullx]

My kids loved those snap chat pics, they sure as hell don't love the Telegraph etc. I feel some admiration for Hamilton because despite realising he is ultimately a spoilt child, I know Ted Kravitz is a tool and Formula One needs a new social media strategy to get a younger audience.

[Manoah2u]

Ted Kravitz just is keeping himself a job, i don't take him seriously at all, only pointing out the obvious and laying it on thick for the tinfoil hats to jump in. He does do a rather well live pit report and does decent strategy calculations - if he's actually really doing that himself and not some SKY employees anonymously, that is. Apart from anything during the race itself, he's on my ignore mode, sorry to say.

Personally, i think the snapchat pics were out of place. I just didnt see the humour in it publically. It was rather something for the drivers amongst themselves, or something to share/do during a non-event. Standing in front of the crowd would have been better, or even better; walking up to the crowd and doing face-switches with any random fan.

And i don't understand your 'spoiled child' comment. Lewis is anything but a spoiled child, he came from absolutely nothing and with his father's help - broke as hell - they managed to make it into the world of F1. Lewis is a 'superstar' and if any might be accused of being a 'diva' but spoiled? Nico fits that category above anyone in the current field.

[Gaz.]

My kids loved those snap chat pics, they sure as hell don't love the Telegraph etc. I feel some admiration for Hamilton because despite realising he is ultimately a spoilt child, I know Ted Kravitz is a tool and Formula One needs a new social media strategy to get a younger audience.

There is plenty of room for both social & digital media and tv & print media to cover a Grand Prix, it does not have to be one or the other. It is like meals, as much as we all love steak and chips, we wouldn't have it for breakfast, nor would you have a bowl of muesli on an evening out. The problem was that Hamilton was having his cornflakes in his PJs while the rest of the room were having business lunch, admittedly the same boring Ploughman's accompanied by the same boring tea, white with one sugar.

However, on the other side of the coin there are some writers in the print media who seem utterly desperate to fight digital media on digital media's terms- DM is bullet points and concise articles with soundbites because people scan web pages and flick through sites with little time or inclination to digest something with more meat on the bones. PM is for the deeper material for the reader to get their teeth into. Watch commuters on a train, those with tablets are constantly swiping the screen, those with paid for papers are reading the same page for ten minutes or more (this was an in house study for us).

To that end, print media journalists trying to get Hamilton to give them a soundbite along the lines that he has a saboteur on his side of the garage were eventually going to get a short shrift in some manner. Vettel in that position would likely mock the person asking the repetitive questions, Alonso would have laughed it off, at best Kimi would have said 'no' and Hamilton played silly buggers on his phone.

My son (nine) also liked the snapchat pictures, but he wouldn't have watched the driver's press conference in the first place as it turns him to stone. So going back to breakfast, lunch and dinner, I would have been happy to hear/read a decent and detailed Q&A with the Fleet Street hacks and my son would have liked Hamilton to put a cartoon smile onto Kimi Raikkonnen afterwards.

[Vasconia]

Social & digital media is something to be develoved in F1, like a greater availability to watch previous races, onboard cameras,etc through different sites.

A stronger interaction between drives, fans and the F1 itself could be good way to gain the loyalty of younger fans. F1 should work on this social media on a much stronger way.

What Hamilton did has nothing do with what I have said, it was only a silly and childish attitude.

[n_anirudh]

I might take a slightly different stand on this one.

If Ham had played around with his phone after the PC, or with the photos from PC-- no problem. It just shows his disinterest in attending the gatherings, might say, it was a tad bit unprofessional. Its like playing a game on your phone when you have a meeting or a product launch. Fun - yes of course, but not at work. he could have discussed/raised more serious issues about the halo/ drivers safety - such as Haas's pitstop mistake/brake by wire failures (if they hadnt been discussed). Not much harm done, but such incidents can be avoided.

F1's reach with social media is limited. You can go FB, Twitter, post more pics on various apps and that's it. Not much revenue is generated for FOM as people would rather watch only the highlights (crashes/overtakes/pit stop mistakes) thru gif's or short clips, but not the entire race on their mobile devices. And airing races on youtube wont be happening anytime soon as its a commercial product. Social media chatting apps (wechat/whatsapp/telgram and the like)open more opinions to be read which would get mixed with millions coming in. Not much revenue for FOM there, but rather an expense.

[RagingBullx]

F1's reach with with social media is massive! F1 on social media is not just about replaying the race to an audience, it needs to connect with the audience, make them laugh, go wow, pull them in to merchandising, racegoing and subscription paying. Social media may seem like a loss leader but will offer increasing revenue streams as it is developed, Button was on the ball saying F1 needs some Pokémon Go in its life and finally to quote Gaz. "My son (nine) also liked the snapchat pictures, but he wouldn't have watched the driver's press conference in the first place as it turns him to stone." An Autosport ipad edition consumer (with plenty of lengthy articles!).

[Pierce89]

Ted Kravitz just is keeping himself a job, i don't take him seriously at all, only pointing out the obvious and laying it on thick for the tinfoil hats to jump in. He does do a rather well live pit report and does decent strategy calculations - if he's actually really doing that himself and not some SKY employees anonymously, that is. Apart from anything during the race itself, he's on my ignore mode, sorry to say.

Personally, i think the snapchat pics were out of place. I just didnt see the humour in it publically. It was rather something for the drivers amongst themselves, or something to share/do during a non-event. Standing in front of the crowd would have been better, or even better; walking up to the crowd and doing face-switches with any random fan.

And i don't understand your 'spoiled child' comment. Lewis is anything but a spoiled child, he came from absolutely nothing and with his father's help - broke as hell - they managed to make it into the world of F1. Lewis is a 'superstar' and if any might be accused of being a 'diva' but spoiled? Nico fits that category above anyone in the current field.

Sorry to go off topic, but I hate the spreading of the idea that Lewis grew up "poor". He grew up in a normal middle class family just like the rest of us(mostly anyways) on here.The fact his dad mortgaged their house means nothing. Thats quite common for the parents of young racers.

[n_anirudh]

F1's reach with with social media is massive! F1 on social media is not just about replaying the race to an audience, it needs to connect with the audience, make them laugh, go wow, pull them in to merchandising, racegoing and subscription paying. Social media may seem like a loss leader but will offer increasing revenue streams as it is developed, Button was on the ball saying F1 needs some Pokémon Go in its life and finally to quote Gaz. "My son (nine) also liked the snapchat pictures, but he wouldn't have watched the driver's press conference in the first place as it turns him to stone." An Autosport ipad edition consumer (with plenty of lengthy articles!).

Sure mate, but F1 merchandise is so expensive at the grandprix, younger audiences (< 18) usually cannot afford them on their own - this was the reason why Bernie wasnt keen on social media. Not many 18 yr olds can afford Rolexes!

Again, the responsibility is partly with the race promoter to showcase the city/track/event to all audiences. Remember that F1 failed in India and Korea, which are large automotive manufacturing countries. Drivers already do quite a lot of promotional events a few days before F1 weekend begins.

[mzivtins]

As a fan, i love 'from the horses mouth'

I want to speak to drivers, hear what they have to say from their own opinions in the way that naturally comes to them.

Journalists are great because they are very good with English, writing some very interesting pieces... But there is still a lot to be said for down and dirty facts/news.

Maybe the journo's need to get with the times, the questions they ask are so repetitive and pedestrian. Almost always designed to either catch someone out or sensationalise a routine incident.

Who is it they are all being hush and respectful too? who are they scared of? there is a massive disconnect here, it not really for the fans, its like a puppet show for 'Share holders'

It is such a shame, some drivers personalities are awesome.

[Ennis]

Everything is so PR-driven that I don't even see the point in press conferences any more. People keep clicking content, including me, but do we actually read or care what we're reading or do we just do it in the hope of finding something interesting (which we never do)?

I agree on the Social Media aspect. UFC is a good example of this - streaming events via YouTube, doing specials on fighters which are available on YouTube, classic fights.. and on the build up to a big fight, at least one of those fighters good fights will be available for free on YouTube. You then toss in active fighters with some free rein to post what they want on social media, a high profile face of the UFC who isn't afraid to get down and dirty on twitter, numerous instagram clips.. I could go on.

In F1 terms we should be approaching Brazil with some classic races available to stream (preferably highlights), the drivers should be let of the leash a lot more (although teams likely more culpable than anything else in this), Bernie fighting with people on twitter, and short clips on Instagram of Lewis Hamilton scaring tigers. I actually feel like F1 aren't a million miles away right now, just need to de-sanitize and learn how to link everything together into something that people want to follow which fits with the mass-ADD that short clips have caused.

EDIT - to add, I know this isn't the 1 cure for everything. It's all for nothing if the racing is boring.