By: Aseem Gaurav on July 27, 2012
The London Olympics are set to be the most social and digital game ever. Millions of fans are going to tweet, pin, like and share news stories, photos and videos related to events, athletes and the city which is hosting the event.
Given that pretty much every Olympic event will be broadcast live on television as well as Internet, the amount of information that will end up being shared with friends and others, is going to be mind boggling. The boost will happen mostly because of the rise in number of people using social media since the Beijing Olympics, along with the people having smartphones, the iPad or Android based tablets.
The noise created by social media is loud, and is indeed giving the opportunity to all to participate in the event, irrespective of their location. Even games organizers are loving the connection between athletes and fans – a kind of intimacy that is created on Facebook and Twitter.
Image courtesy: Olympics.org
During the last Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008, Twitter had about 6 million users and Facebook 100 million. Now the figures have drastically changed, as there are 140 million for Twitter and over 950 million for Facebook.
The good part about social media is that even Olympians are not missing this opportunity to comment online in real time of their social media pages. US hurdler Lolo Jones, for instance, uses Twitter in a big way to interact with her fans. A lot of people are interested in knowing Jones’ personal life along with what her chances are of winning a gold medal in London.
Paralympian Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson wrote: “Feeling very olympic today...”
On July 23, Tomoko Fukumi, tweeted, "London has greeted us with fine weather. The Athlete's Village is quite comfortable."
However, on the flip side, the explosion of social media usage has created a problem for IOC (International Olympic Committee) which has set down the guidelines and the athletes have to comply. Last summer the IOC issued guidelines that stated that athletes can “take part in social media” to post, blog and tweet their experiences, provided “such postings, blogs or tweets must be in a first-person, diary-type format and should not be in the role of a journalist.” IOC has also banned comments on the activities of other athletes, and the online posting of video or audio recordings from the games.
The IOC has emphasized that breach of guidelines will result in accreditation of "any organization or person ... may be withdrawn without notice."
Image courtesy: Olympics.org
On the other hand, brands and advertisers can’t afford to miss the event, and are using every possible tool to make an impact. But one may wonder, do they have a choice. The 11 biggest corporate sponsors have poured in nearly $1 billion for the rights to flaunt the Olympic seal during the London Games.
For instance, Coca-Cola is using social media to connect with its customers by encouraging them to create and share music videos. Similarly, Visa is nudging fans to post elaborate cheers for the athletes. In addition, fast food brand, like McDonald's, which has received criticism for its menu, mounted a public outreach campaign in London, announcing the launch of a new QR code system that lets consumers get nutritional information about the foods by scanning them with their smartphones. The QR code will roll out to a majority of McDonald's restaurants by 2013, the company had said.
Overall though, social media holds the key in promoting the Olympics like never before.
The London Olympics are set to be the most social and digital game ever. Millions of fans are going to tweet, pin, like and share news stories, photos and videos related to events, athletes and the city which is hosting the event.
Image courtesy: Olympics.org
Given that pretty much every Olympic event will be broadcast live on television as well as Internet, the amount of information that will end up being shared with friends and others, is going to be mind boggling. The boost will happen mostly because of the rise in number of people using social media since the Beijing Olympics, along with the people having smartphones, the iPad or Android based tablets.
The noise created by social media is loud, and is indeed giving the opportunity to all to participate in the event, irrespective of their location. Even games organizers are loving the connection between athletes and fans – a kind of intimacy that is created on Facebook and Twitter.
During the last Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008, Twitter had about 6 million users and Facebook 100 million. Now the figures have drastically changed, as there are 140 million for Twitter and over 950 million for Facebook.
The good part about social media is that even Olympians are not missing this opportunity to comment online in real time of their social media pages. US hurdler Lolo Jones, for instance, uses Twitter in a big way to interact with her fans. A lot of people are interested in knowing Jones’ personal life along with what her chances are of winning a gold medal in London.
Paralympian Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson wrote: “Feeling very olympic today...”
On July 23, Tomoko Fukumi, tweeted, "London has greeted us with fine weather. The Athlete's Village is quite comfortable."
Image courtesy: Olympics.org
However, on the flip side, the explosion of social media usage has created a problem for IOC (International Olympic Committee) which has set down the guidelines and the athletes have to comply. Last summer the IOC issued guidelines that stated that athletes can “take part in social media” to post, blog and tweet their experiences, provided “such postings, blogs or tweets must be in a first-person, diary-type format and should not be in the role of a journalist.” IOC has also banned comments on the activities of other athletes, and the online posting of video or audio recordings from the games.
The IOC has emphasized that breach of guidelines will result in accreditation of "any organization or person ... may be withdrawn without notice."
On the other hand, brands and advertisers can’t afford to miss the event, and are using every possible tool to make an impact. But one may wonder, do they have a choice. The 11 biggest corporate sponsors have poured in nearly $1 billion for the rights to flaunt the Olympic seal during the London Games.
For instance, Coca-Cola is using social media to connect with its customers by encouraging them to create and share music videos. Similarly, Visa is nudging fans to post elaborate cheers for the athletes. In addition, fast food brand, like McDonald's, which has received criticism for its menu, mounted a public outreach campaign in London, announcing the launch of a new QR code system that lets consumers get nutritional information about the foods by scanning them with their smartphones. The QR code will roll out to a majority of McDonald's restaurants by 2013, the company had said.
Overall though, social media holds the key in promoting the Olympics like never before.
