A Couple of Social Media(ish) Notes

So I'm breaking my sabbatical a day early, but there were a couple of neat things that came down the line this week that is worth noting.

First, Milwaukee IndyFest has jumped into the Twitter fray with its Indy 26 program. Somehow through the power of the internets they were able to identify 26 of the more active Twitter users in the Milwaukee area. Each of those tweeps were assigned a driver that they will follow and tweet about over the course of the weekend. Sort of a Social Media Garage thing taken down to a one-on-one level. By the way Cassie Conklin, if you are reading this, what an idea for next year! I have dibs on Hinch.

Anyway, if you are active on Twitter, and you should be, check out this list and follow these folks for the weekend. Might be some cool stuff! Whatever becomes of it, I think it is a great idea that other events should copy.

I saw quite a few people on Twitter express their disappointment that many of the drivers and teams were not very active during the red flag period on Sunday at Belle Isle, and I second that. One thing that needs to be realized is that EVERYTHING represents an opportunity to promote drivers and the series on social media.

Yes, I do feel it is that important.

After all, for the most part, who are some of the more popular drivers in the series? The ones who are fan-friendly, and that goes up a notch to the guys/ladies who work it on social media. If you grow your driver, you grow your team and that grows IndyCar.

The second item I noticed today is that, by popular demand, IndyCar radio has made all of its broadcasts from this season's races available in podcast form on their website at IndyCarRadio.com. If you have ever watched the YouTube highlights of each race you have heard the radio calls that are added to the video, and the crew does a nice job. Having grown up listening to a lot of radio, especially sports on the radio, I have a real soft spot for that kind of stuff. Besides, listening to races on the radio is actually pretty cool.

I will probably download and listen to Indy again sometime soon. Don't forget that the actual TV broadcasts are available on YouTube as well.

That's it for today. I'll throw some Texas notes in either tomorrow night or Saturday morning. Here's hoping for a big weekend!