With the Olympic Opening Ceremonies beginning on July 27, 2012, many fans are making sure that they are following their favorite athletes on popular social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. As this Olympics is being called the social media Olympics, many are hoping to get some inside information from their athletes as they tweet and post about their experience.
Because of this, the International Olympic Committee is getting into the mix with their Olympic Athletes' Hub. This site is focused on the athletes and their social media connections. It is designed to integrate social media sites like Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, foursquare and Google+.
The site already has over 2,000 athletes signed up and their Instagram account has more than 30,000 followers and has only been active for 60 days.
Taking a look at the site, you can type in the name of your favorite athlete and their profile page will come up. For example, I typed in Michael Phelps. The results pulled up his page which provided a complete feed from his Twitter account, links to follow him on both Twitter and Facebook, a listing of the events he is competing in and a total of all of his fans that are registered.
There is also a section called "Inside the Olympic Village" where online chats will take place with the athletes. By using the Twitter hashtag #askanathlete, you can submit questions for the athlete they are currently talking with.
The IOC will also be adding a bit of a social gaming challenge called the "Olympic Challenge." For those of you that play fantasy sports, this will be an Olympic version where you can compete with other fans by predicting who will win certain events. They will be integrating the game will Facebook's Open Graph so your results will appear in your feeds.
So, before the Games begin, be sure to check out the site and make sure you have all your favorites followed. Social media may just make this Olympics an experience that everyone can take part in, even if we aren't in London and holding tickets to an event.
Deborah Braconnier is a former athlete and avid sports and Olympics fan. She now works as a freelance writer and Featured Contributor for the Olympics and NFL and brings her love of sports to her writing. As a former medical professional, she promotes nutrition and fitness for everyone. Follow her on Twitter @fwcdeborah and @healthykidsgrow.
