Jay Leonard
It’s an American tradition. Every four years, we sit for two weeks in front of the TV and soak in as much Olympic energy as we can get.
Conan O’Brien even joked, “Olympics can inspire American kids to get active. Or it can inspire American kids to sit on the couch and watch the Olympics.” C’mon, rooting from the couch is a lot of work!
Yet, there’s something different about the London 2012 Olympics (and no I’m not talking about the location). According to Reuters, the 2012 London Olympics have been dubbed the “first social media Games.”
It’s hard to believe, but it’s the first time there’s been such a heavy activity from fans and athletes on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram during the Games. During the Beijing Olympics, Twitter was in its infancy and Facebook had a mere 100 million followers. Now, Twitter sees 400 million tweets daily and Facebook has 900 million users.
This year’s London 2012 Olympic fans don’t just watch their favorite athletes win or lose; they root for them through social networks and engage with them by sending heartfelt congratulations tweets and support—and the Olympians reciprocate. This level of connection between athletes and their fans has never been seen at a worldwide level.
So what’s a better way to show this interaction than tweets? Here’s a taste of some of the most inspirational, funny, awesome, and well, not so cool tweets from the Olympics so far.
1. Olympic Teams pose with their gold medals. Who knew winning tasted so good?
Dreams do come true :) instagr.am/p/NxitfPPuQJ/
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) August 1, 2012
We Did It!!!!! Gold Medal+Olympic Record! So Proud! @franklinmissy @arschmitty @s_vreeland @alyssaloo930 @loperdue #fb twitter.com/danavollmer/st… — Dana Vollmer (@danavollmer) August 2, 2012
Dreams DO come true. @rickyberens @ryanlochte @michaelphelps twitter.com/conorjdwyer/st… — Conor Dwyer (@conorjdwyer) July 31, 2012
2. Celebrities go gaga about the Olympics.
heard @franklinmissy is a fan of mine. now im a fan of hers too. CONGRATS on winning GOLD! #muchlove — Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) July 31, 2012
the olympics is the best ever. but i went through a whole pack of tissues last night. watching hard working athletes achieve their dreams — Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) July 31, 2012
WOW ! what a moment. The Fab Five!!!!! #TeamUSA Gymnastics! — Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) August 1, 2012
3. Hello, Mr. President. Yes we won another gold medal.
Photo of the day: President Obama congratulates the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team on their big win. twitter.com/BarackObama/st…
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 2, 2012
Thank you Mr. President!! It’s an honor representing the #USA !! The best country in the world!! RT @barackobama: … tmi.me/ux7k2 — Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) August 1, 2012
Congrats to Michael Phelps for breaking the all-time Olympic medal record. You’ve made your country proud. -bo
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 1, 2012
4. Paul McCartney’s pre-Opening Ceremony picture gets more than 15,000 Retweets.
Minutes away now! twitter.com/PaulMcCartney/…
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) July 27, 2012
5. Candid cameras at the Olympic Arenas take snapshots of the action.
Can the real @ryanlochte please stand up. I’m getting confused down here. #London2012 twitter.com/L2012PoolCam/s…
— L2012 Pool Camera (@L2012PoolCam) August 1, 2012
Whoooah, fellas, take it easy. #London2012 twitter.com/l2012bballcam/… — L2012 Basketball Cam (@l2012bballcam) August 1, 2012
This #Judo shot needs no words. The best kind of picture. #London2012 twitter.com/L2012MatCam/st… — L2012 Mat Cam (@L2012MatCam) July 30, 2012
6. Athletes protest Rule 40, a rule that bans them from mentioning their sponsors on Twitter.
Goodnight World… Can anyone guess what’ll be in my dreams. #Rule40 twitter.com/DHarp100mH/sta…
— Dawn Harper (@DHarp100mH) July 30, 2012
I am honored to be an Olympian, but #WeDemandChange of #rule40. I can’t tweet about my only sponsor.
— Kara Patterson (@karathrowsjav) July 29, 2012
7. Users and athletes get banned for hate comments.
Rileyy_69 was arrested in Great Britain after this malicious comment about American diver Tom Daley. Daley’s father died from cancer a year ago.
Voula Papachristou, a Greek triple jumper, was banned from Twitter and kicked off her Olympic team after posting a racist tweet before the Olympics even began. “So many Africans in Greece at least West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food,” Papachristou tweeted.
Swiss soccer player Michel Morganella also made a racist tweet after the team lost to South Korea. “South Koreans “can go burn,” calling them “a bunch of mongoloids,”” Morganella tweeted. He was promptly kicked out of the team and sent home.
8. Viewers criticize NBC coverage by using #NBCfail.
NBC’s coverage of the Olympics has been increasingly criticized, due to their inability to keep up with the times and post events online, delaying their coverage to primetime for ratings, censoring a piece during the opening ceremony because “it was not appropriate to the American public” and slightly incompetent anchors commenting on events.
British journalist Guy Adams was banned from Twitter for criticizing the NBC network. He was kicked off for posting an email of an NBC representative. Since then, Twitter has reinstated him, apologizing for the rash move.
And Adams’ ban from Twitter hasn’t shut anyone up.
breaking news. The winner for the girls gymnastics is known everywhere in the world except the US. Find out who in 9 hours #nbcfail.
— Matthew Kiniorski (@mkiniorski) August 2, 2012
Awesome. Six ways NBC blew Olympic coverage #nbcfail (via @storify) bit.ly/Ovi8fR
— Rachel Barnhart (@rachbarnhart) July 28, 2012
What are you favorite tweets from #London2012?
[image: samsungtomorrow]
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
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