Tweets on the Streets of Le Tour on Bastille Day

Why is Lance Armstrong, a guy who rides a bike, the most social media-savvy athlete in the world? We’ll answer that in a moment, but first …

Yesterday was Bastille Day in France, a national holiday commemorating the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789. It was also Stage 10 of the Tour De France, a relatively flat, uneventful ride from the town of Limoges to Issoudon, won in a sprint finish by Mark Cavendish, a Brit. You would have known about this if you’re one of the 1.4 million people who follow Lance Armstrong on Twitter. Let’s take a peek at some of yesterday's tweets from the master pedaler:

Driving to the start. Slight drizzle. Bastille Day. A Brit will win tho.

Shot a video with @ghincapie and Mark Cavendish this morning. Good fun altho Cav was too well behaved.

St10 done. Probably one of the more relaxed days I have experienced in 10+ tours. Got roling at the end tho and we were going! Good legs.

Kept going @ the finish and did a 10 min cool down. I reckon it makes no sense to sprint to the line, stop cold, then sit in the bus.

As it turned out, a Brit (Cavendish) did win the stage, just as Armstrong predicted.

Later in the day, Armstrong introduces us (via a CNN link) to the Chalkbot, a street-writing robot that transcribes water-soluble messages of hope and inspiration to riders, fans and a world-wide television audience that includes legions of cancer survivors. The Chalkbot is a towed, two-wheeled device that converts the tweets and text messages of ordinary fans into bright yellow comments that get painted on the streets of the Tour for all to see. Thus, a fortunate fan from Philly can write a message on a boulevard in France and receive a photo of that message, presumably to share with friends via social media. (Is it any wonder that Nike and Armstrong are working with the company that invented the Chalkbot, bringing a new form of user generated content to a street near you.)

The Chalkbot isn’t the only one writing on the streets of the Tour, however. We learn from Chris Brewer, reporting on the LiveStrong website:

At the beginning and end of each stage Nike has a “street team” of 12 super-motivated young people patrolling the fans along the rail. Each of them has a roller bag chock full of chalk(!) and LIVESTRONG yellow wristbands. They give out the chalk for free, encouraging people to write messages of hope on the roads of the Tour, and sell the wristbands for one Euro with all proceeds staying in France to benefit those affected by cancer.

A little later we get another tweet from Lance about the video he, Hincapie, and Cavendish shot in the morning:

Pre-stage video with @ghincapie, Cav, and myself.

And speaking of videos, on Sunday morning Robin Williams was on the Team Astana bus, doing what Robin Williams does best, being funny. Where did we learn about this? From one of Armstrong’s tweets, of course.

Robin Williams stopped by the bus after the finish. He's doing great and got his health back 100%. We made a vid I'll post later. Too funny.

So, what makes Armstrong the most social media-savvy athlete in the world? He understands that social media is about engaging your audience in conversation. The Armstrong you get to know via his tweets, blogs, vlogs and Livestrong.com is endearing and real, everything you would want in a friend. In fact, the Armstrong you get to know via social media is a much more compelling persona than the Armstrong you see in a Charlie Rose interview, for example. Why? Because mass media doesn't always capture the Lance you want to have a beer with. The mass media Lance is awe-inspiring and iconic yet packaged and controlled. That's not a bad thing--that's just how mass media sells our stars to us. The social media Armstrong, by contrast, is a multi-dimensional Armstrong.

And then there is his strategic side. You don't win the Tour De France seven times without being strategic. Not surprisingly, Armstrong has mastered a social media strategy that taps into the Four Pillars of Social Media:

1. Communication


2. Collaboration


3. Education


4. Entertainment
   

He employs a number of different social media tools to establish all four pillars as the foundation for his brand-enhancing self. Let us not forget that he is one of the world's most effective pitchmen. Check out some of the sponsors and advertisements on his website, and you'll see that his cancer-crusading foundation is making money, over $250 million in the last 12 years. (Armstrong's personal net worth is well over $100 million, according to Forbes.)

Clearly, social media didn't make Lance Armstrong. His talent on a bicycle and his backstory as a cancer survivor have given Armstrong an opportunity to be in the public spotlight. But it is his use of social media that has given all of us an opportunity to ride along with him ... and feel good about it.