Discussion: O Twitter
in: Orienteering; General
Jun 9, 2010 1:58 PM
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Attackpoint was way ahead of its time linking social media to training and racing in the sport of orienteering. It has been a very useful site to provide an online interaction in my club's training group and has also been a great way for the entire community to see what some of the very best in the sport do training wise during the year. Perhaps it provides a form of connection between the spectator and the elite athlete.
I was thinking about this the other week when my daughter asked me why some top athletes don't log their training on AttackPoint. It was an interesting question because I started to wonder what the sport would have been like if today's technology had existed when I was her age (or a bit older). As a kid I was in awe of the performances domestically of Ron Lowry and Ted de St. Croix and having lived in Norway also following the gold medals of the Norwegian men like Egil Johansen, Oyvin Thon, Morton Berglia. I'm sure I would have had their blogs bookmarked and would be keen to see their latest Route Gadget update and I would likely have saved up money to buy the gear that was advertised on their web site.
When I used to race, many people told me that they enjoyed reading my log and as a non racer today I enjoy reading the training logs of the few Canadian team members and several of the American team members that post their training here on AP. It is also enjoyable to read athlete's blogs but few have them and those that do don't update them that often. While I am sure that updating blogs is less of a priority than training and working it seems odd that in a sport where attracting sponsors (and fans) is difficult why some of our top athletes don't spend more time interacting online with their own orienteering community that includes supporters and likely many fans.
It seems that in this day of facebook and twitter (and indeed Attackpoint) that providing updates on training progress, new sponsors, race performance, goals, volunteering in the O community would be an easy thing to do.
I don't think I'm alone in this view and found it interesting that two web sites I read weekly both pointed to the limited use of Twitter in the elite orienteering community.
Okansas.blogspot.com wrote:
"Twitter has some possibilities for those of us sitting at home following orienteering races like the European Orienteering Champs. There aren't many elite orienteers using Twitter yet (as best I can tell). I hope the number will grow."
WorldofO wrote:
"I have tried to get the top runners to use Twitter before, but still only a very few have taken it up. .....Twitter is a good and little time-consuming way to share your thoughts with the community."
I was thinking about this the other week when my daughter asked me why some top athletes don't log their training on AttackPoint. It was an interesting question because I started to wonder what the sport would have been like if today's technology had existed when I was her age (or a bit older). As a kid I was in awe of the performances domestically of Ron Lowry and Ted de St. Croix and having lived in Norway also following the gold medals of the Norwegian men like Egil Johansen, Oyvin Thon, Morton Berglia. I'm sure I would have had their blogs bookmarked and would be keen to see their latest Route Gadget update and I would likely have saved up money to buy the gear that was advertised on their web site.
When I used to race, many people told me that they enjoyed reading my log and as a non racer today I enjoy reading the training logs of the few Canadian team members and several of the American team members that post their training here on AP. It is also enjoyable to read athlete's blogs but few have them and those that do don't update them that often. While I am sure that updating blogs is less of a priority than training and working it seems odd that in a sport where attracting sponsors (and fans) is difficult why some of our top athletes don't spend more time interacting online with their own orienteering community that includes supporters and likely many fans.
It seems that in this day of facebook and twitter (and indeed Attackpoint) that providing updates on training progress, new sponsors, race performance, goals, volunteering in the O community would be an easy thing to do.
I don't think I'm alone in this view and found it interesting that two web sites I read weekly both pointed to the limited use of Twitter in the elite orienteering community.
Okansas.blogspot.com wrote:
"Twitter has some possibilities for those of us sitting at home following orienteering races like the European Orienteering Champs. There aren't many elite orienteers using Twitter yet (as best I can tell). I hope the number will grow."
WorldofO wrote:
"I have tried to get the top runners to use Twitter before, but still only a very few have taken it up. .....Twitter is a good and little time-consuming way to share your thoughts with the community."
This discussion thread is closed.