social media explorer

Last November’s Beam Racing Baja Twitter Tracker was fun, innovative and interesting. It was one of the first uses of the popular social media tool to provide coverage of and communication about a sporting event, at least in an official way. Proudly, the social media thinking didn’t stop there for Robby Gordon Motorsports.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Dakar Rally, a three-week endurance off-road race tracing its course from Lisbon, Portugal to Dakar, Senegal. Robby Gordon became the first American to win a stage in the Dakar Rally last year. He’s hoping to become the first to win the whole thing this time around.

And the community of Robby Gordon fans now has a plethora of tools with which to track his progress. Before I list the videos, blog posts, Twitter feeds and daily recaps, allow me the opportunity to introduce you to Robby’s Uprising, a social network built on the Ning platform for fans of Robby Gordon. The site can be found at RobbysUprising.com and already has over 700 members.

As you would expect, the site will be Dakar Central for the next month as Robby takes on the field in one of the most difficult and grueling races on the planet. Several of Robby’s sponsors have gotten behind the effort. Monster Energy, the lead sponsor of Robby’s H3 Hummer, is helping bring the Dakar Central page to life. Ramses Perez of Toyo Tires is accompanying the team during the race and will blog daily. There’s a special Dakar YouTube feed that will feature regular video updates from the ground in Europe and Africa. Rob Harris, the marketing guru behind RGM’s online offerings, will be providing the Twitter updates from the trip. And, of course, the community offers message board and forum discussions where those most passionate or interested can share thoughts and content (pictures and videos, too!) about Dakar, Robby or any of the other interests Robby Gordon Motorsports touches.

As for my part, I’ll be helping Beam Racing provide regular updates on the Jim Beam website for its visitors, particularly the Brotherhood of Bourbon members who have a special connection to Robby Gordon through Beam Racing. I’m also helping Harris administer the social network while he’s traipsing about the globe fighting dust and avoiding malaria.

Feel free to join us. My bet is that you won’t have a better seat for the Dakar Rally this year unless you’re a competitor. If you are, what are you doing reading this? Get to work.

[tags]Dakar Rally, Robby Gordon, Jim Beam Racing, Toyo Tires, Monster Energy, off-road racing[/tags]