Twitter & F1

I joined Twitter in 2009 and I quickly learnt that to get the most from Twitter it is important that you interact with others. Without this interaction you will often find that you don’t build up any kind of relationship with the people you follow. Only following celebrities will also hinder the Twitter experience. In order to get the most from the site I think it worth finding something that you are interested in and then trying to find like minded people. Once you follow someone who you think is of interest to you then start a conversation with them. It is often best to think of Twitter of a giant room full of different types of people all with different interests. You need to search out the people who you would like to talk to or find a subject you want to talk about and form your own social circle around that. Much like you do in real life. It may take a while to get a nice circle of ‘friends’ but often the effort is worth it. Twitter is also, inevitably, a great way to people watch and eavesdrop on conversations. Companies are using it more and more in order to engage with their customers as the feedback they receive is quick and direct.

So who do I follow and why? Well I tend to interact with F1 fans more than any other sub group on Twitter. It is comforting to know there are other crazy people who love the sound and the spectacle of Formula 1 as much as me.

On the whole my experience has been a good one and one I would recommend to other fans. It is a great way to chat to other F1 fans as well as a unique way to interact with the teams as several of them have official accounts.  Members of the teams also have accounts and these unofficial accounts are often some of the more interesting to follow as they provide a greater insight into the sport and often post behind the scenes pictures.

During a race weekend it is common to find the bulk of people I actively follow, on Twitter at the same time and the banter is second to none. They have become an extended group of friends. We even stretch to making the odd virtual coffee round! Although this tends to happen more with the flyaway races as some of the sessions are on early on a morning. This means I have to drag myself out of bed and I often find myself wondering why I do this for a sport. It is comforting to know I am not the only one who tortures themselves for the sport.

However, lately Twitter does seem like it is a bit of a double edged sword at the minute. Whilst the fans are able to be open and free in their comments I think they are going a little too far at times and it seems to be getting a little personal with its comments about users and drivers. I don’t know if it is the dynamics of becoming a closer group that we let down our guard and we are more willing to type our thoughts than we would be to voice them in any other public arena. How many times have you sent a text, email or tweet and said something that you wouldn’t otherwise voice. I am not talking about a particular user but just a general feel of fans on a race weekend. I understand that emotions run high on a race weekend and that we all say offensive things at times but maybe it is time to think a little more before we type.

If you are wanting to find some fellow F1 fans or the official F1 feeds then either look through who I follow or simply search #F1 and you will stumble across loads of F1 fans who are on the whole a great bunch of tweeters.

Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section or maybe even tweet me them :)