"Formula 1 is getting old." Darren Heath

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by henners88

Wedge I don't know how you can just shrug off social media and compare the present day to something you must have used back in 2002/03! It's very different now. My Twitter is almost entirely built up with following f1 and most of the stories related to the sport are either broken through Twitter or extracted from first account experiences shared through such a medium. My Facebook is built up of purely my family and friends from over the years. I've made contact and satisfied my curiousity about people I havent seen for years but wanted to. It allows me to stay in touch with friends from uni and family I don't see very often. Family events, parties, friends gatherings are often organized through Facebook and myself and many others use it to be sociable without hiding behind an anonymous identity on the internet. Social media doesnt have to be a load of drivel if you know what you are doing and aren't quick to write it off by listening to others who don't use it themselves, but read all the horror stories in the media and base their opinions on all the negatives.

---

Only time I seriously looked at F1 associated Twitter is during pre-season testing. The only feed worth following for the rest of the year is Scarb's.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wedge

It is meaningless drivel.

---

If you dismiss an entire category of communication I'm afraid you're simply demonstrating that you haven't grasped the significance of the new medium, just like nay-sayers at the start of the century dismissing cinema as lacking the cultural depth of theatre and literature and therefore being irrelevant.

Social media reflects the user, you can do whatever you want with it. More importantly, regardless of whether you think its rubbish for a growing number of younger people it IS the primary source of information and F1 as a sport (the drivers and teams seem to have started understanding and using it) needs to grasp this.

But no matter, F1 was slow even under Bernie's control to understand the strength of live televising of races, games/movie tie-ups, product placement and internet promotion so why should social media be any different?

I mean, the amount of money Disney brings in through 'Cars' merchandising is utterly obscene yet F1 has not bothered to do anything remotely similar, and thats with cinema, a medium thats been around for over 100 years...

I dont get this guy, if F1 is getting old, then why does it still maintain and even grow an already huge worldwide fanbase, why do sponsors keep coming and coming to back the teams and the sport, why do TV companies pay millions for he privilege to show it on their channels. Tey would'nt do it if they thought it was old fashioned.

Its an argument you could say about English Football having 4 leagues and 92 full time professional clubs since the mid 1920's but everyone including me doesnt consider that structure old, the argument is just pointless

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DazzlaF1

I dont get this guy, if F1 is getting old, then why does it still maintain and even grow an already huge worldwide fanbase, why do sponsors keep coming and coming to back the teams and the sport, why do TV companies pay millions for he privilege to show it on their channels. Tey would'nt do it if they thought it was old fashioned.

---

And why does he keep getting paid for his F1 photographs? He must feel really bad as he takes his checks to the bank...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wedge

It is meaningless drivel.

---

You present this view as though it is fact. It is not.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wmcot

And why does he keep getting paid for his F1 photographs? He must feel really bad as he takes his checks to the bank...

---

Why does that disqualify him from having an opinion?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BDunnell

You present this view as though it is fact. It is not.

---

It is an opinion.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malbec

If you dismiss an entire category of communication I'm afraid you're simply demonstrating that you haven't grasped the significance of the new medium, just like nay-sayers at the start of the century dismissing cinema as lacking the cultural depth of theatre and literature and therefore being irrelevant.

---

I don't entirely dismiss it. I, personally, haven't felt the need to rely on Twitter nor would I want to "follow".

There are blogs, columns and diaries which I, personally, find sufficient and more importantly more expansive. That's not to say that Twitter is wholly inferior.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wedge

I don't entirely dismiss it. I, personally, haven't felt the need to rely on Twitter nor would I want to "follow".

There are blogs, columns and diaries which I, personally, find sufficient and more importantly more expansive. That's not to say that Twitter is wholly inferior.

---

Your initial comment was highly dismissive of the entire medium which is why I wrote what I wrote. I do agree that blogs etc are far far more informative, but Twitter has its uses as well especially in a rapidly changing environment where information through official channels is either slow, inaccurate or both. You just have to learn when its an appropriate channel to use. You can see from the way newspapers and news agencies actually directly put tweets on their websites in crises or situations like Syria where information is scarce that Twitter definitely has a very serious role to play. For F1 of course that could mean teams informing fans why a driver retired minutes after the event and so on.

On a separate note as a new father I'm looking for F1 toys to get my son interested in the sport. There is nothing whatsoever out there beyond generic open wheeler based toys. In fact there is very very little out there to encourage young kids to engage in the sport, and I'm speaking as someone actively looking forward to getting their child hooked as a fan. This is a serious problem that F1 needs to address, especially compared with the efforts football teams go to.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Malbec

Your initial comment was highly dismissive of the entire medium which is why I wrote what I wrote. I do agree that blogs etc are far far more informative, but Twitter has its uses as well especially in a rapidly changing environment where information through official channels is either slow, inaccurate or both. You just have to learn when its an appropriate channel to use. You can see from the way newspapers and news agencies actually directly put tweets on their websites in crises or situations like Syria where information is scarce that Twitter definitely has a very serious role to play. For F1 of course that could mean teams informing fans why a driver retired minutes after the event and so on.

---

I agree with all of that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wedge

It is an opinion.

---

I'm afraid that, when I see someone write 'It is meaningless drivel', that use of italics tends to suggest to me that the statement is being presented as indisputable.