How would Skiing fair if Instagram shut down?

JmckR

JmckR

Active member
Just a hypothetical question. It seems a large majority of pro-skiers gain their sponsors & fans through Instagram alone these days. 99% of skiers - not just pros, everybody - who want to share their content go straight to Instagram, some popular guys uploading 2 or 3 short videos a day throughout the whole season. In fact I can't think of one big-name skier who doesn't use it.

I wonder if Instagram shut down tomorrow, I believe it could affect the whole skiing industry - not massively but certainly noticeably. A lot of sponsors would lose their fanbase and no longer support pro-skiers.

Obviously 9/10 skiers still upload larger edits to vimeo/youtube which would definitely continue. But for the general public, without that daily dose of skiing from Instagram, some may start to lose interest in the whole sport? I wouldn't know what to do with myself in summer if the app disappeared completely !
 
This is a weird hypothetical question. They wouldn't shut down, and if they did, someone would quickly take their place.
 
There was a time before social media and everything was pretty much the same, besides the oversaturation of content.
 
13825017:grilled_cheese said:
Everything would probably move to twitter, facebook, or snapchat, but for now its not going anywhere
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I'm astounded that Twitter hasn't died off like Myspace. It seems so boring.
 
13825020:snowfinder said:
There was a time before social media and everything was pretty much the same, besides the oversaturation of content.
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Yup, Skiing wouldn't be changed by the lack of a social media outlet.

Maybe those poor children who thrive off of thumbs ups, hearts, and notification blow ups would be really sad...boo hoo.
 
Idk.. I feel like it would be different. A lot of things have come from the social medias. Whether they be good or bad.
 
IMO not much would change in the industry, but there would be less people trying to film their stuff, and more people just enjoying skiing. The pros would probably just move to another platform. But i would miss my daily dose of Jerry action.
 
I took a year off from shooting photos and video, went off of IG and I actually enjoyed skiing a lot more. Not worrying in the back of my mind if I could get a shot that would get a lot of likes, stuff like that... I think a shut down like that might influence skiers in a positive way. However like it has been said, it also helps these guys survive financially, so it could also suck if that happened
 
13825094:CK_Media said:
I took a year off from shooting photos and video, went off of IG and I actually enjoyed skiing a lot more. Not worrying in the back of my mind if I could get a shot that would get a lot of likes, stuff like that... I think a shut down like that might influence skiers in a positive way. However like it has been said, it also helps these guys survive financially, so it could also suck if that happened
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Also it is probably a lot more fun posting stuff if you're a good skier, unlike myself lol
 
13825020:snowfinder said:
There was a time before social media and everything was pretty much the same, besides the oversaturation of content.
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This.

Actually what would happen if mainstream social media shut down is you would have a ton of new production companies and digital media properties created by skiers pop up. Back in the day there used to be about 10 or so sites like Newschoolers, and every week there was a new ski magazine dropping. New Production companies making movies were flooding out of the walls.

there are loads of ways to get exposure without main stream social media. Keeps more money in the industry too.

However it is what it is. So it's a part of things now, and we all adapt.
 
It would not affect skiing as no athletes are gaining sponsors due to their instagram or social media ... at least to the point they are being paid like an athlete that is on ESPN and major networks. It obviously helps your resume, and I'm all for it, however most companies don't really care aside from clauses incentivizing social media for already signed athletes. Just as incentive match can match prize money. However companies aren't out looking for a kid with 10k followers. Beiber has 89.2 million followers.
 
13825134:MikeWeinerONE said:
However companies aren't out looking for a kid with 10k followers. Beiber has 89.2 million followers.
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Beiber is irrelevant to selling skis though...

Companies (at least from what team managers and marketing managers tell me) are most certainly looking for people with solid social followings these days. Sure - comp results and ESPN exposure are great... but there's a whole category of athlete which is popular on social which is 100% valuable.
 
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