Thursday, 9th of August 2012
A lot can happen in four years, and so every new Olympics brings with it a whole new set of rules and experiences. The London 2012 Games have utilised social media in a big way, so what does this mean for our experience of the Games?
87% of Olympic fans are sharing news and opinions over a wide variety of social media outlets (mainly Twitter, which is currently leading with 97% of all mentions of the Games happening on there) and it seems that almost every competitor is directly engaging with their fans online, posting pictures and memos of their experience of London 2012.
Here's a breakdown of the statistics about the London Olympics and social media use, put together in a lovely, coloured graphic;
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Social media is allowing fans to interact with each other and the competing athletes at an unprecedented level, which is, for the most part, a good thing. It's inspiring a sense of community and the interactivity of the Games has definitely increased their viewership!
Some athletes have, however, made comments about the distracting nature of social media, and some broadcasters have found themselves under fire online for their less than impressive coverage of the games (see #NBCFail on Twitter). Athletes have been banned and sent home after posting inappropriate tweets (Greek Paraskevi Papachristou is one example), and one viewer has actually been arrested on charges of harassment under British law after sending particularly horrible tweets to diver Tom Daley.
A few issues regarding the law and privacy still need to be sorted out, and individual athletes need to consider the impact social media may have on their performance, but it seems that social media is here to stay - And the London 2012 Olympics are doing a pretty good job of using it to enhance everyone's experience of the Games.
On a side note, we're happy to see the newly released logo for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games is a bit more aesthetically pleasing than the current London logo; We can see what Great Britain was trying to do with that fuschia '2012', but unfortunately we think they missed the mark. Check out the various logos on Google and tell us what year you prefer!
*Infographic by the team at SEO.com.