By the time you read this article, the London 2012 games would be heading towards the final leg together with the big closing ceremony. While its early days yet, but let’s look back on the role of Social.Local.Mobile (SoLoMo) in Olympic Games.
Already reports have begun to surface on how NBC spoiled the Olympics broadcast, fans are threatening athletes over Twitter and how the London 2012 officials are completely clueless on social media. Welcome to the new age Olympics – London SoLoMo 2012. This is the first Olympics Games of its kind. It’s local by nature – happening in cities around the world, every four years. This Olympics is being dubbed by the experts as the world’s first social games. This is the first global sporting event to take place in the new media/ social media era. It’s mobile, because how people are watching the Olympics has changed. The advent of smartphones, tablets and mobile TV has widened the scope for information availability. The Olympics are no longer just watched on TV, it’s on mobile, on tablets, on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Just to give you an overview of why this is indeed the Social Olympics: –
- Today over 1000 athletes have joined the Olympic social media hub that was set up by the International Olympics Committee (IOC).
- Every event featured in the Olympics 2012 has its own Twitter account.
- NBC’s Olympics Companion App is streaming the London 2012 games right to your mobile devices.
- According to BBC, it is expecting up to 1 terabit per second of internet traffic.
- Social Bakers has developed a cheer meter for the London Olympics. The data is calculated based on the Twitter buzz for the games in real time.
- CNN has its own Olympics Twitter hashtag ( #cnnolympics) and an iReport section to tell your Olympics story.
Reports have already started to surface about the most popular Olympic social network. Research indicates that Twitter is leading the way with 97% of all mentions. The largest spike in Twitter conversation was during Rowan Atkinson’s symphony appearance during the opening ceremony. There was also much criticism that the IOC missed a golden social media opportunity by not posting the skit on YouTube. However, the games themselves have evolved to such an extent that even the mascots have their own Twitter handle.
Fans too for their part have started complaining of match fixing via the social networks. What we are witnessing now, is an unprecedented event where all the stake holders get to have their say in real time. This is why we have decided to call this the SoLoMo Olympics. Social Networks are being used via mobile devices to comment and post about a location specific event!
As we near the last leg of the competitions, already memories have been made and records have tumbled. Michael Phelps the USA swimmer has the all-time highest medal tally in any sport and has become the most mentioned Olympian via Twitter. With more records set to tumble, we are sure the biggest record breaker is going to be social media.
Social Media Business Consultant | Social.Local.Mobile Marketing-Strategist| Speaker | Trainer
Based in Sydney, Australia, Logan has been an avid & passionate social media user since the advent of Facebook. As the Social Media Business Consultant with over 30 years’ experience in corporate, SME business, together with running his own organisation for the past seven years. Logan is focused on guiding organisations through the four stages of social media for business – Education, Strategy, Implementation and On-going Management. If your business needs expert assistance on creating a custom Social Media and Search Engine Optimisation Strategy, contact us via logan@logannathan.com. Logan is also an expert on LinkedIn and is running a series of workshops over the next few months. To Register: – http://www.ictsocialbusiness.com.au/social_media_education/social-media-training-workshop/Getting-leads-from-LinkedIn
Stay tuned for more developments from Logan’s company.
