Race-time Fun: I love open wheel racing, and I really don’t know many folks out here in CA who are into it. So lately, I’ve been immersed in social media while watching IndyCar races – lots of different types for different experiences.
Live Blogs: One person’s view of the race’s events – comments are possible, but it’s a soapbox for a blogger to react to what’s happening (or not) during a race.
Twitter: Quips, quotes, news, photos, and one-to-many comments. You can have conversations on Twitter, but it’s not as concentrated as other forms of contact. Twitter is where it’s at, and it’s not just what’s for dinner anymore.
Group Chat: A few of us gather in a single chat room to experience the races together. Loads of fun – like a virtual race party or tailgate that is very fast paced with lots of zingers flying.
One-on-One Chat: There’s always Yahoo Messenger, once and still the bastion of kids, stalkers and lonely married men getting off in their basements or hotel rooms during narty chats (usually not with their wives). I’m enjoying it as a way to have side conversations with one or two others during a race.
Email: Slower and less-centralized version of one-on-one chat.Good for long-form expression, but I know someone who uses it like text messaging. (Might as well just use chat…)
Texts: One-on-one chat, short version. Good for when one or both parties are actually at the race.
Facebook: Some folks have their Twitter comments populate their FB status; others use FB as a full-featured Twitter. I like it best when race teams and fans post photos and happenings from the race site – using the FB galleries for multiple photos is a lot more convenient than one-at-a-time shots from Twitter via Twitpic or Yfrog.
Forums: They roll a little slower than a group chat – a laid back version of a tailgate party.
At one point today, I had one of each of these rolling, along with the TV broadcast with the volume down and the radio network coverage streaming. It’s a lot of input to take in, and I couldn’t do it all day, but it’s definitely enhancing my enjoyment of the races.
Gosh Bash I know. I use to just sit and watch the broadcast by myself. Now I multi-task away with fellow fans (Twitter, IM, Race Control oh my). It does make the race so much more entertaining though!
Glad the interactive chat on Planet-ILR worked out, was great this last Sunday!
Enjoy Kentucky this Saturday, luckily I will be in attendance! Can’t wait for the smell and sounds of live Indy – nothing beats that!
Hope you have a great time at KY (heeheehee) – I’ve always wanted to go to that race! Will definitelymiss you online!