I'm still young so it's probably no surprise I balance my RC chat between forums and Facebook, but even for those who don't want to use any other kinds of social media, you have to admit they're a very handy tool when used correctly - using it correctly being the key.
Forums might be good for people who are already involved in the sport, but that's a tiny percentage of people. Facebook is a platform for absolutely anything you have an interest in - and for the majority of people, it's much easier to log into Facebook and get any important information about their local clubs than it is to go onto a dedicated forum. I have helped more people with their cars and had more in-depth discussions through other forms of social media than I ever could do on a forum, and it's simply due to the amount of people who use it.
In terms of attracting new people to RC racing, I think a wide social media presence of the racing community is literally the only feasible way of going about things. Take for example RedRC's video of one of the 4wd legs from round 2 of the EOS, which managed to go viral on Facebook - it must have easily had a few million views by now, and instead of the usual "how sad is this" comments, I was really encouraged to see that virtually every comment was a positive one. There were quite a few people who were genuinely interested to find out more - granted, a fair bit of the interest from outsiders will always be the novelty value of watching RC cars being raced professionally, but that's always going to happen until it can break through as a more mainstream motorsport discipline (it's hard to say if/when that'll happen, but I do believe it's possible).
I don't think anyone can be blamed for not wanting to use a dedicated forum like oOple - however good it is, and however friendly the community is, whatever's easiest in terms of promoting a club or putting out information will always win. It certainly doesn't mean forums will die, either - as long as people are interested, they'll stay afloat.
|