After our Socialympics post a few days ago, it came time to write a follow up on the social trends emerging during “the world’s first social Games.” Barely a week into the 2012 London Games, social media is leaving a mark on this worldwide event.
Social: Its Impact on London 2012
- Twitter drives innovation – In late July EDF Energy, one of UK’s utilities companies, announced a partnership with “Mike Thelwall, and Sosolimited, a team of MIT graduates with expertise in linguistic analysis, to interpret UK-based tweets that reference the Olympics. The London Eye would change colors reflecting the mood of tweets about the Games, an innovative use of an iconic London landmark to represent Great Britain’s social media interactions in a tangible way.
- Twitter becomes part of the rules of the Games – Greek triple-jumper Paraskevi Papachristou was ejected from the Games before it even started because of a racist comment made on Twitter.
- Twitter doesn’t surprise by going personal – A U.K. teen was issued a harassment warning because of a tweet sent to Great Britain diver Tom Daley that read, “You let your dad down I hope you know that.” Daley, whose father, Rob, died from brain cancer last year, replied: “After giving it my all … you get idiots sending me this …”
- Twitter gives an all-access pass – athletes are easy to find thanks to special dedicated sites. I have to admit I got a little giddy when a U.S. Olympian boxer Claressa Shields retweeted me the other day!
- Twitter is the place to vent – NBC was hit hard by complaints about the delayed and supposedly edited news coverage with hashtags #NBCfail, #NBCdelayed and #NBCsucks.
Delayed TV Coverage vs Real-time Social Coverage
Did you feel you had to turn away from social networks while certain events were taking place in real time? Because of the minimum five-hour delay for US viewers, plus NBC’s primetime window, fans would have to avoid the internet all afternoon to protect themselves from spoilers—a considerable task in our socially driven society.
- Although viewer reaction is mixed, many have taken to their preferred network to air their dislike of NBC’s coverage blackout.
- Some of NBC’s coverage seems edited and void of major moments from the Games. When world champion and Russian gymnast Afanasyeva crashed on her knees on a final pass Tuesday, NBC was bashed for not airing the routine. Because of the fall, U.S. became a shoe-in for gold, but then that wouldn’t make good coverage.
- Others claimed NBC edited out the tribute to London 7/7 bombings from the Opening Ceremony because it “wasn’t tailored to U.S. audience.” A moving performance by Emeli Sandé was edited out in favour of a Ryan Seacrest interview with swimmer Michael Phelps.
- Of course there was the West Coast spoil of Missy Franklin’s gold medal win. Minutes before Franklin’s 100m backstroke was aired, a promo for a Today Show feature announced that Franklin had won the gold.
Weigh in on Socialympics
As this is the first time the Olympics have been so socially driven, mistakes are bound to happen. How do you feel about NBC’s coverage? How is the Twitter conversation changing your experience of the Olympics? Would love to see where you stand on this. Comment below!