Has Twitter changed motorsport reporting?

[Greem]

I say "Motorsport" rather than just "F1", but we'll start with F1...

The last season has seen an explosion of drivers, teams, team management, designers, press reporters, press & amateur photographers, PR people, TV & radio presenters and production people, and a bazillion other people connected in some way with F1 posting little snippets on Twitter as their weekends progress.

In my opinion, this has to an increasing degree turned the way F1 is reported upside down.

It's not so long ago that we used to have to wait for days at a time to get reports, paddock talk, gossip and personal views from people involved when the specialist print press arrived.

Nowadays, the print (and other) press all have significant online presence so some stories are published on the web long before they appear in print.

The emergence of Twitter, however, and the fundamental availability to everyone, means that watching a race at home can now be an almost immersive experience. Just to demonstrate, this is my routine for an F1 race:

Main BBC TV Coverage
FOM live timing at formula1.com
BBC in-car stream on the web
Skype chat with a bunch of mates who are similarly enthusiastic
Twitter stream with mates, acquaintances, random people and lots of folks at the track

Sometimes the sheer volume of information can be overwhelming, but the additional insight given by people like Jon Noble/Edd Straw from Autosport, team PR people - hell, team principals Tweeting from the pit wall (Hello Mike Gascoyne!), reporters like Adam Cooper, Will Buxton and the like makes an F1 weekend all the more immediate now.

That immediacy takes away the thrill, a little, of settling down to read the inkies in the days following; however it makes a race weekend far more accessible.

It's the same, although to a lesser degree, for other forms of motorsport - BTCC, WTCC being a notable mention because I follow those too.

The major difference seems to me to be that the people involved are able to get a real and immediate view of what the rest of the world thinks while they're watching. I've been in some interesting discussions with media folks at points this year over some points or incidents, and that just wouldn't happen before now.

The big question to follow is: What's next?

[Ingsy]

Man, how do you ever get chance to actually see what's going on in the race, with all that info about?

I watched a race with friends about two years ago and didn't enjoy it. Too much talking - couldn't hear what the commentators were saying and keep up with what was going on. From that point on I only ever watch races with Mrs Ingsy, and listen to the commentary.

Too much information isn't always a good thing.

[bella]

i agree with the idea that twitter has changed motorsport reporting but not necessarily during the races.

i think where twitter wins is the interactivity aspect for fans - for example i know some people who have got into the f1 paddock for a visit thanks to one of the team twitter feeds which even a year or two ago would have been completely unheard of. personally i follow karun chandhok (compulsory), will buxton (amusing and also usually spot on), and a couple of the new teams feeds.

it's also good because you get your f1 fix away from the weekends. for example it's been excellent seeing the gp2 teams progress on the construction of their new chassis, handy to get news straight to your desktop/phone from the horses mouth and also getting to see the "real" side of some of the drivers. some of them have a career in journalism or writing waiting for them after racing for their ability to pun in 140 characters!

[Sodemo]

I really don't understand or "get" twitter, and ive tried to use it, but can't.

[Knowlesy]

It hasn't just changed motorsport reporting.

IT HAS CHANGED ALL OF OUR LIVES!!1!!1!

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

I really don't understand or "get" twitter, and ive tried to use it, but can't.

Easy. Think of a party where there are lots of conversations going on. You know some people well, some a little, and some not at all.

You can choose to listen to the conversations you want to, and you don't have to say anything at all. You can choose to talk back at some of the people, and they might even engage you in conversation. If they're a bit tiddly, they might ignore you altogether.

If you're very lucky, you might find yourself deep in an interesting discussion with someone you've never met before.

That said, if you try to listen to everyone at once, it becomes a massive noise and the interesting stuff gets swamped. And a lot of the stuff on there is utter, utter b------s. But it's the choice that makes it worth using.

Someone wrote recently that "Facebook is for people who used to be your friends, and Twitter is for people who should be your friends". I agree wholeheartedly with that, having met up with some great touring car chums in the last year through it.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

It hasn't just changed motorsport reporting.

IT HAS CHANGED ALL OF OUR LIVES!!1!!1!

Cynic

[ghinzani]

Its seriously ruining my enjoyment of Moto GP these days - it never ends...

[staid davenport]

I love it, the accesibility of all the news, stories, and gossip. Its a shame that Formula 1 as a commercial entity doesn't embrace more internet technology - it is supposed to be the pinacle of the sport but it is a little bit 1990s in its broadcasting and website...

getting much better though. hopefully we will have HD next year too.

[mickey29]

I use twitter as a "news gathering" service. I don't use it during the races as I find it distracting trying to follow a twitter feed and live timing, tv, etc.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

It hasn't just changed motorsport reporting.

IT HAS CHANGED ALL OF OUR LIVES!!1!!1!

Exactly !

[Jamesy-18]

I'm a fan of Twitter. I get on with it much more easily than the book of faces to be honest.

Motorsport and Formula One especially are famously not really that friendly towards fans that much. An an outsider, it's kinda cool to feel "there" when you are sat in front of your computer. I enjoy the updates from drivers/journalists/others.

And it helps to hear about developing news stories that we'd be unaware of if it wasn't there.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Jamesy-18

I'm a fan of Twitter. I get on with it much more easily than the book of faces to be honest.

You're not the only one. Martin Haven seems to use Twitter almost exclusively nowadays, but then he never stops talking, so it's hardly surprising!

Since you can now post single photos as well, it's becoming increasingly useful.

[Peter Mallett]

The tweets from the various drivers, Crofty, Lee McKenzie, Jake Humphrey, Karunchandok, and those team principals are sometimes informative and sometimes damned annoying. Most humorous was the trials they all tweeted about getting out of China during the volcano.

But I agree it's better than Facebook and you can choose to dip into conversations or just watch from the outside. Martin Haven is one of the few "professionals" who engages with the general public, Toby Moody is another. @5LiveF1 will get you access to the radio commentary team during race weekends and they use the tweets as part of the programme. Making the programmes a bit more interactive than previously.

But it's not just Twitter. Has anyone seen the McLaren F1 wecast? You get to read the radios and pit calls in live streaming and I'm not convinced that they are edited other than for the odd swear word.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

It hasn't just changed motorsport reporting.

IT HAS CHANGED ALL OF OUR LIVES!!1!!1!

No, it may have changed yours and a few others that you know but for the vast majority of people it has not even entered their life. It is the same as everyone assumes that everyone else has email and internet, they don't. Sorry to be grumpy about this but assumptions of this nature annoy me, rant over.

[Super Hans]

Originally Posted by Casper

No, it may have changed yours and a few others that you know but for the vast majority of people it has not even entered their life. It is the same as everyone assumes that everyone else has email and internet, they don't. Sorry to be grumpy about this but assumptions of this nature annoy me, rant over.

Knowlesy's subtle sarcasm claims another victim.

I agree with what Ingsy said - There is too much info out there nowadays.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Super Hans

I agree with what Ingsy said - There is too much info out there nowadays.

That was partly my original point though; yes there's a lot of info out there, but you have the ability to choose what/when/who/how you acquire it.

The thing that really stood out for me this year was the immediacy of it all. Now all I need is a plastic chair, some overpriced warm beer and exhaust fumes wafting in through the window and it'll be almost as good as being there. But quieter, and less likely to rain

Footnote: I spend plenty of time trackside, thanks, before anyone jumps up and down declaring war on armchair spectators!

[ASCII Man]

It's mostly info about inane stuff nobody really cares about, coupled with the most horrific spelling, the kind that would embarass txtspeak kids even.

Even people like Vijay Mallya twitter about stuff like "Spicejet n Indigo claim dat they r d best n most preferred Low Fare Airlines but d CNBC AWAAZ award 4 d best low fare went 2 Kingfisher Red", which really makes me put my face into the palm of my hand.



It's almost like Twitter is used exclusively by people that just had a full frontal lobotomy...

[Aysedasi]

Hasn't changed my life one bit......

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by Casper

No, it may have changed yours and a few others that you know but for the vast majority of people it has not even entered their life. It is the same as everyone assumes that everyone else has email and internet, they don't. Sorry to be grumpy about this but assumptions of this nature annoy me, rant over.

Ooh, look who's jealous that he doesn't get to sit on the internet 24/7 like me.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Ooh, look who's jealous that he doesn't get to sit on the internet 24/7 like me.

It's becoming hard to know people who doesn't have internet present in their lives.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Bononi

It's becoming hard to know people who doesn't have internet present in their lives.

Tell me about it.... my 85 year old father has recently upgraded from a PC he has had for a couple of years, and just bought himself a laptop because it is easier for him to take to school!
(He goes every Saturday morning for a couple of hour of tuition at a weekly computer course for 'seniors', and gets given his homework to do! Last week he was chatting to me about the pro's and cons of wireless internet!)

[blaffer]

Has Twitter changed motorsport reporting?

I think it has. Motorsport news is spread faster, and Twitter is a means of bringing drivers and teams closer to the fans.
It gets funny when even the dinosauruses of motorsport start twittering: this week Mario Andretti joined the club.

[Marbot]

According to latest figures, 82.5% of the UK population 'use' the internet.

According to Wikipedia 8200.500% of the UK population 'use' the internet, and the other 170.005% can't speak English.

I've just read on Twitter that: "There's a comet the size of Exeter heading straight for us!".

It's good stuff, but it can also be damned annoying at times.

[GolddustMini]

Whilst Im all for this 'internet revolution' I tend to limit my mid race activity to a quick browse on here, I dont tweet and I tried the FOM live timing and car tracker but didnt really see the point of them, it added nothing to the experience.
I think there is a downside to all of this machine gun info splattering, sometimes the sheer volume of reporting means that the reporting quality has dropped, It has opened up more and more emphasis on speed of reporting and not quality. however it has opened up news streams that previously we would not have got (for example gasgoine announcing pitstops on twitter)



Its interesting thinking about WRC though, as a format the internet IS the format for rallying, yet they make very little use of it, they have live timing and thats about it, they have a website with a layout so annoying i dont read the reports, the reporting is terrible where reports are delayed to such a huge extent that the cars are often half a day ahead of the stage reports! which is a huge shame because think of what WRC could offer in this digital age. but its clearly not just WRC website itself because autosports reporting is terrible on WRC as well, perhaps because autosport should be renamed f1sport!