Twitter is a wonderful concept to bring people from all over the world together to share real time information, news and ideas. Overtime sports teams and organization embraced it as a way to bring people closer to their product. But NASCAR hadn’t embraced the world of Twitter until the Tweet heard round the world came to media attention during the Daytona 500 when during an extended break for a fire Brad Keselowski posted a photo from inside the car in which netted over 100,000 twitter followers to his account keeping up with him during the break.
With the season over a new day of bringing NASCAR to the world had begun. Benny Fry better known to his over 20,000 followers as @pourme has started #NASCARFollowBack.
“Born & raised in NC in the heart of NASCAR country, my Dad wasn’t a fan of any type of ball sports. I never watched an entire game until I was in High School. No Super Bowl on our TV growing up! Dad loved cars and still does. He wasn’t a NASCAR Fan, but living in the shadow of the Charlotte Motor Speedway I became a NASCAR fan early on.” Said Benny
Benny who started on twitter in 2009, “my only intention was to eaves drop on the Twitter world, never to Tweet.” More than 46,000 tweets later, Benny has been able to turn eaves dropping, into connecting with over 25,000 followers from the US and several nations around the world.
Benny has taken some time to sit down and explain the #NASCARFollowBack.
You started the #NASCARFollowBack to bring fans of NASCAR and racing together, how did the idea come up?
The idea just popped into my head Sunday morning Dec. 16th as I was making my morning coffee. I went to the web site http://talkinpoints.webs.com/nascar-followback and as I began explaining it I became very excited! I thought a lot of people will really like this.
With the #NASCARFollowBack what has been the biggest challenge of the effort?
Two things…Some people won’t take time to read and understand the plan. I have to coax them to do so. Lots of questions to answer. Some want to take advantage of the plan. Gather up followers but not follow back. Weeding through all the confusion has been a big challenge. Which brings to mind the second challenge the physical demands of the twelve to fourteen hour days I put in the 1st week, wore me out physically and mentally!
What are you looking to accomplish by starting #NASCARFollowBack trend?
This was intended to create an online community of NASCAR fans that until now had no organized way of finding each other in this huge Twitterverse. I don’t care what driver they favor or what level of fan they are. We have some long timers like me and some newbies that are hungry for more interaction with other NASCAR fans, people wanting to learn more about the sport. I’m not looking for driver participation, although I think it would be a great Public Relations move for them. Drivers want to be followed but sadly they don’t care to follow the fans. They want to “build a following” and I’m not interested in helping them do that. #NASCARFOLLOWBACK is doing precisely what I intended for it to do, quite nicely. I wish you could see what members tell me constantly about how this has enhanced both their NASCAR experience as well as their Twitter experience!
Anything else you would like us to know about the list and what people can do to keep it growing?
I’d like everyone to know I appreciate each and every one that has made this possible. Without the 406 #NASCARFOLLOWBACK Members we now have at this writing, there would be nothing to talk and write about. Thanks to each and every one of you! You make the effort well worthwhile. Also, thank you for the thought guys but I have no desire to be President of the United States.
Maybe one day soon one of my favorite followers. @yuengling_beer will see the value in becoming the official sponsor of #NASCARFOLLOWBACK. We can upgrade our web site with Yuengling logos and begin to have Tweetups at each race, I can host! We could give away tickets to lucky members for each race. And of course turn these NASCAR fans into @yuengling_beer drinkers! Well I can dream.
I would like to announce the creation of a new Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/Nascarfollowback This page is open to the general public. Please go to this page and like it! Post your race related pictures and stories! Our official web page that explains the #NASCARFOLLOWBACK plan is here: http://talkinpoints.webs.com/nascar-followback
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