Have you ever felt like sliding your favourite driver a text message of encouragement?

Good news! You probably already have!

Want to give someone a spray? No freaking problem!

Burn those fingers away on the keyboard or screen, and your subject can feel the flames, quite often in 140 characters or less, in real time, on their telephone.

By the power vested in you by social media, you now have unprecedented access to your favourite sporting heroes like never before.

It’s a two-way street – athletes can invite you into their life, but fans can also give instant feedback.

The various platforms of social media are what you make of them. There are no set rules for how you use them or what you derive from them.

Personally, I largely utilise Twitter as a news aggregator, I subscribe to news sources or people in the know, so I can be the first to learn about topics that interest me.

If I don’t want to know the latest celebrity trends or clickbait on news.com.au, ridding it from my life is a simple unsubscribe click away.

Twitter shines its brightest when big news events go down. Follow a hashtag, and those on the ground can broadcast the blood and guts as they spill. This makes Twitter perfect as a second device discussion tool during live sports.

Facebook meanwhile has a news element, but due to its algorithm, largely its utility is to keep tabs on the activities of people I am aware of.

Why would you bother hiding in the bushes, when you can stand and stare at the front window of someone’s smart phone screen?

Facebook-owned Instagram meanwhile overlaps more with the Facebook side of voyeurism, as opposed to a news source.

Here I tend to follow more arty-farty people, who I have never met in person, but are overly competent at taking cool images.

I’m a late convert to Snapchat, and as a 35-year-old with my finger on the internet’s pulse, it would probably be prudent to schedule a visit with the cardiologist… I’m getting too old for this one.

Social Media User Guide

• Facebook

I’m just here for the comments.

Seriously, if you’re on a sugar high and need to come crashing down fast, have a scroll through the comments section on Facebook of your favourite news service – in most cases, it reveals the very bottom of the depths of humanity.

If a driver posts a picture of their fluffy cat/dog, should you rant on about having to pay to watch Supercars on Foxtel, or how an unrelated sponsor is an evil corporation run by Hank Scorpio?

Short answer – no. You need to learn some netiquette, and please don’t load a second saddle onto your high horse when your comment gets banished to the deleted pile.

In Australia, a staggering 94% of people have been on Facebook in the past 12 months, with the numbers dropping away from there for YouTube (51%), Instagram (46%), Snapchat (40%), Twitter (32%), and so on.

• Twitter

Many of the drivers I know prefer to spend their spare time on Twitter or Instagram, both of which can be programmed to automatically load content onto their Facebook athlete fan pages to be broadcast to the masses.

The problem from a user’s perspective, Twitter is 100% as good as having your phone number

You want to @ somebody? You’re sending them a text message to their phone, and they will see it.

Would you really want to say what you are tweeting to their face or over the phone? I’m guessing you probably wouldn’t.

Twitter is an all-time favourite hangout for oxygen thieving trolls.

It’s simple to hit the mute button to stop being subjected to their dribble, and the block button can also be depressed for the very saddest of the little urchins.

The question is – do you give the trolls the satisfaction that they got to you enough to deserve a block, or does it get to them that they have lost access to their play thing?

Saying that, the good news is that society hasn’t completely decayed.

There are a lot of good people out there who offer informed option and witty banter, it’s the minority that can ruin the fun for everyone.

• Instagram

Largely, Instagram is a fun user experience, it’s much more about sharing experiences than opinions.

Yes, there is the odd cry for attention, but most of the content posted tends to be positive in nature.

• YouTube

While the online video streaming service falls under the blanket of social media, I feel that its use is drastically underutilised locally as technology evolves, especially in Supercars.

With the proliferation of smart TVs, VOD (video on demand) is all the rage, with content easily delivered through channels such as YouTube, or the emerging Facebook Videos for TV app.

Many series overseas have grasped the technology, and have run with it, with the superstar being NASCAR.

Mid and post-session/race highlights, press conferences, a massive array of news clips, scanner sounds, and all races available in full/sans breaks at a later date. All free, on demand, and available 24/7 from your couch.

Heck, even Formula 1 is on board. Has the world gone mad?

• Good Use Guide

From an athlete’s perspective, the shining star to use as a role model on social media, and specifically Twitter, is Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The car that @TalladegaSuperS gave me yesterday: raced at final event of the 1980 championship season at Ontario. It’s THE car. Incredible. pic.twitter.com/9966I4xe66

— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) October 14, 2017

A latecomer to the social side, the most popular driver in that form of the sport has grown his following to 2.3 MILLION fans.

Interaction with the audience, with other drivers, social comment, and importantly, a peer behind the public face of the man, are keys to his success online.

Posts regarding his favourite sports teams, what’s on TV, what he is eating (banana and mayonnaise sandwiches), show that he is a human being, and the punters cannot get enough.

Obviously, there is a line to be drawn about how much private life one reveals, but insight is what the fan base craves.

• Be A Positive Poster

Sick of the negativity on the net?

There’s one corner of the internet you can control – it’s the part that you contribute to it.

TGIF! …Only 6 more days til the freakin weekend.

— Mark Walker (@markwa1ker) October 13, 2017

For instance, Indycar used to be my one-and-only favourite form of the sport.

However, over the years it has shape shifted in various different ways. I found myself not enjoying it, and bagging it out online.

What’s the point? If I’m not liking a product – what is the gain in wasting my breath berating it? Things aren’t going to change because of one squeaky voice online, and I’m simply going to annoy those who do still enjoy it.

Subsequently, I’m watching less and less Indycar, but at same time I try my hardest not to whine about something I’ve lost interest in.

It’s probably worth asking the question of the all the negative souls on the internet – why do you persist watching/commenting on forms of the sport that you seemingly don’t enjoy?

Thanks to Indycar, I am now using those regained hours to learn the ukulele.

Please do not complain about this, unless you are my next-door neighbour.

WORDS & IMAGES: Mark Waker