The digital world of the Tour de France

Facebook-Twitter: another race in the Tour

Official Tour de France Facebook and Twitter accounts www.facebook.com/letour and www.twitter.com/letour have become more and more popular these past few years, providing specific contents to the fans and followers. The facebook.com/letour page remains the most popular with 1.730.000 fans, now followed closely by the Twitter account that has 1.340.000 subscribers. It could be even more this year over the three weeks of racing. Twitter @letour account links to four pages called RadioTour in French (www.twitter.com/radiotour_FR), English  (www.twitter.com/radiotour_EN), German  (www.twitter.com/radiotour_DE) and Spanish  (www.twitter.com/radiotour_ES), with access to all information regarding the race as well photos, videos, etc. Beside the two major social networks, the Tour de France increases its presence with different contents on instagram (www.instagram.com/letourdefrance, 107 000 followers), Google + (https://plus.google.com/+LeTourDeFrance, 500 000) and snapchat (10 000). A Social Corner will once again be available on letour.com and will give access to all contents and statistics of the Tour de France on social networks stage by stage.

Distinctive jerseys to become Twitter emojis

Tweets regarding the Tour de France will automatically generate Twitter emojis when a user will mention one of the four distinctive jerseys. For instance, hashtags #MaillotJaune, #MaillotaPois, #MaillotBlancKrys or #GreenJersey will automatically be replaced by corresponding pictures. Fans who follow a rider involved in one of those classifications can also subscribe to new accounts dedicated to the white jersey (@MaillotKrys) or the most aggressive rider award (@PrixAntargaz). Jerseys and trophies will be awarded daily to followers.

A hashtag for surprise picture

Twitters addicts will get into it quickly… The Automatic Photo Reply system is a way to discover quirky pictures. For instance, a tweet containing @letour and/or @TDFbox associated with #TDFlove randomly generates a corresponding picture. A lot more are yet to be discovered.

Digital caravan

Not only can social networking help to follow the race but it’s another way to travel right into the publicity caravan. On the www.lacaravanepublicitaire.com website as well as on the mobile app, eleven sponsors will post contents directly from their festive vehicles driving the course ahead of the riders. They also have a Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/lacaravanedutour, with 30 000 fans), a Twitter account (www.twitter.com/caravanedutour, 2500 followers) and an Instagram account (www.instagram.com/lacaravanedutour, 600 followers).