Humongo Summer Tour: How social media tools are changing the fan/driver relationship

Thursday, July 29, 2010

How social media tools are changing the fan/driver relationship

Chatting with Ramsey Poston at NASCAR gave us great insight into how social media is not only being embraced within the sport, but how it's changing the very relationship between drivers and fans.

In the old days of racing, it used to be that while a driver was a celebrity, there was a wall between their public life and private life. We all know that social media has changed that forever. NASCAR has embraced this revolution, and encourages their drivers to communicate with fans using the multitude of available social tools.

This has created new relationships with fans, as they're exposed to every aspect of the driver's life. With this new relationship comes new opportunities and new responsibilities. Naturally, the rules have not been written on where to draw all of the lines. For example, should sponsors integrate themselves into a driver's personal life?

Trash talk has been elevated to a new level, too. Drivers can tease their competitors publicly via Facebook and Twitter, and now their fans can join in on the fun. Clearly social media has changed life on and off the racetrack forever.

We chatted about this and more as it relates to the NASCAR brand during our visit to their headquarters. See it all on our Humongo Nation Daytona Beach wrap up video.

Labels: daytona beach, sports