The Impact of Social Media

This past fall the New York Marathon celebrated its 48th year with over 52,000 participates, a new world record! The New York Marathon has become a long a fall staple for long distance runners across 163 different countries. However, the marathon didn’t always see drastic spikes in its yearly finisher totals. In fact, in the late 2000s, several marathons showed small dips in total race participates. Recent years have shown the opposite with numbers skyrocketing. My opinion is that social media has encouraged athletes to run more.

Instagram Influencers

Image of a runner.

In 2018, social media marketers saw the rise in social media influencers. Running was no exceptions to this trend and benefited from it tremendously. I am fascinated by how these everyday runners can turn into Instagram celebrities overnight. For example, I follow a marathon runner named Patrick Cutter who has over 40 thousand followers on his Instagram account. He has shaved 40 minutes off of his marathon time in 5 years of running. With his experience and accomplishments, aspiring runners flock to his page for advice on how they can improve on their marathon journey. Not only does he post his workout videos and photos, but he also provides nutrient tips and showcases some of his sponsorships.

Cultivates Community

Team of runners.

Part of the sport of running is to be able to share in triumphs and fallbacks with friends, groups, or teammates. New social media applications have made that possible, the most notable being Strava. This platform allows runners to post their runs via GPS technology by syncing a Bluetooth watch. Runners can like, comment and view other peer’s posts by following their profile. My favorite interactive piece of the app is the segment functions. Runners can use the GPS technology online to mark a particular road or trail from any length. Once loaded runners can compete to claim the fastest time on that particular segment. I personally like to make small segments up hills because I tend to slow down running uphill, but the challenge of the segment pushes me to break the record of another runner or even my own.

Accessible Knowledge

Coach leading a team of runners.

When I hear athletes complain about why running a marathon isn’t something of their interest, it’s usually because of not having people to run with or not knowing where to begin. Social media has helped to solve both of these issues. Now it is easier than ever to get connected with a coach or experienced marathon veteran on how to train for a marathon. Training plans for a marathon are all over networks like Pinterest and Facebook if you search the right places. Facebook is also a perfect place to find training buddies. Practically all local running groups in your area have some sort of Facebook group to coordinate runs and practices. From my experience, this is a great way to refer someone to a group, they can check out what the team is all about before even coming out for a run.

As a runner my goal has always been to one, race to the new best times and two share my love for the sport with others. I am ecstatic to see that social media has helped bridge the gap between athletes looking for a new challenge and the sport of running.