How Social Media Killed the ING NYC Marathon

By now it's old news - the New York City Marathon was canceled. After Hurricane Sandy tore through the Northeast,  it became clear foregoing the race was probably the right decision. The unfortunate part of this is that this decision came after days of assuring runners that the race would continue as planned - only 36 hours before the starting pistol was to go off in Staten Island.

So why did it play out this way?

Public outcry was cited as the reason for the cancellation on ESPN's Story:

"this weekend's New York City Marathon was canceled Friday when Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed course and yielded to mounting criticism that this was no time to run a race."

Without a doubt - newspapers, television, public officials, sponsors pulling support and many other factors came into play to push the New York Road Runners and NYC to call off the race. But while the marathon's Facebook page did not spark the fire of public outcry, it did throw gasoline on a smoldering situation - here's how:

1. From a runner's perspective, people come from across the globe to participate in the NYC Marathon, so geographically, the participants are very spread out. Facebook became the default meeting place for everyone to look for answers and insight as to if and how the race was going to be conducted after the storm. As confusion set in, and concern that resources were perhaps going to be directed away from victims and towards the race, non-runners found the marathon Facebook page as their meeting spot as well. Taking a rough look at their posts before the storm, they averaged somewhere between 15-200 comments depending on the subject. After the storm - the discussion picked up- Tuesday's post had 372, Wednesday's had 645, Thursday's posts had 615, Friday's had 3000+, you get the picture, and this isn't even counting the comments on their wall. As more people came to the page, it was like a party that slowly got more crowded, louder and hotter as more guests showed up. It was only a matter of time before someone spilled a drink on someone else and hair was being pulled
2. The ING NYC Marathon did not communicate with the runners effectively. Their page sent out vague posts roughly once a day, with little information regarding the fluid situation. Posts offered little in terms of information, and their moderators did not engage legitimate logistical questions that were being asked such as if the hours for the expo were going to be altered, how transportation was going to be handled as the public transit system in the city had been massively impacted, or things as simple as, "should I get on my flight?". Unresponsiveness was interpreted as indifference.  To top things off, the official cancellation email came out 12 hours after the cancellation announcement.I was physically at the Expo when they cancelled, and the only reason I was tipped off just before I walked in the door was that I happened to check out twitter and saw the flurry of activity. 
3. Lastly, social media was leveraged to gather the movement against the race. To do this Facebook pages were created (with over 30k likes in less than 24 hours) and change.org petitions were circulated to implore the organizers and the city itself to not run the race as scheduled. The real salt in the wound for the marathon was that their own Facebook page, as noted in point 1, was used as the recruiting grounds for people to join the movement against the race.  

 It's unfortunate that things had to unfold the way they did. A lot of the same platforms that contributed to the cancellation of the race could have been used to save the reputation of the race if not the race itself. Showing empathy for those impacted by communicating with their community and providing information would have eased a lot of minds. It was noted that the race's television broadcast was going to be turned into more of a telethon for the victims - but in keeping with the rest of their communications, this was shared after the decision was made to cancel, clearly too late to change the conversation.While you can't control social media, it's critical that brands are engaged and committed to responding to it as it clearly is becoming a force to be reckoned with.


Drive Slow

Running through the Wreckage

 It's now a couple of days after the disaster that was Hurricane Sandy. We lucked out and never lost power, but roads are still blocked by trees, many people still are without electricity or water and some lost much more.

 I have some serious mixed feelings about this weekend. First, is it right to run a race through an area that has suffered immense damage? The flip side of that argument is, will the race bring a sense of normal and celebration to an area that sorely needs it? I think you could make a strong case for both, and if you take a look at the marathon's Facebook page - it's playing out in real time.

I've trained, and actually deferred my entry from last year after injuring myself. I have a lot of friends running with me, and for me, I've decided to take part in the race. If anything, it'll be an interesting weekend that I hope to bring back to all of you. I'll be live blogging my experience via my new Tumblr account Runner's Trots. I'll be taking pictures along the way, and sharing thoughts.

The adventure begins, as I try to get into the city to pick up my registration packet and then somehow make it to the starting line. As long as I can do those things, getting to the finish should be a breeze.

Drive Slow