Posted By
Brian Unflat on 02/12/2010
The 2010 Winter Olympic Games are set to start today. This
version of the greatest sports spectacular in the world is being dubbed the first
Twitter Olympics. And with good reason—Twitter is a new phenomenon since we
last watched a pair of skis glide through the air in Torino, Italy back in
2006. Twitter, founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 2006 and launched
publicly in July 2006, is a social networking and micro-blogging service that
allows users to post their latest updates. With an almost four-year-old “Twitterverse” headed
to the Olympics, what better way to keep frosty hands warm than diligently tweeting
the event’s happenings on a minute-to minute basis? Unfortunately, the world-class
athletes we are all focused on are restricted as to what part they can play in the
Social Media Olympics!
Apparently, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) has
new rules for the 2010 Olympic Games that limit the use of social media for all
athletes from the beginning of the games through March 3. Now I ask you, is restricting
the most popular technology that brings information to the masses in a second’s
notice and blurs the line of nations in an open and spontaneous dialog really
in the spirit of unifying the global community? I call this an Olympic-sized
foul!
Rule 49 of the
Olympic Charter states, “Only those persons accredited as media may act as
journalists, reporters, or in any other media capacity.” Take a look at the IOC Blogging Guidelines for the 2010 Games to judge for yourself.
Fine, but what about blogs?
The IOC considers blogging… “as a legitimate form of
personal expression and not as a form of journalism.” That would seem to be okay,
but the rules go on to outline exactly what a blog is, and what type of content
it can contain. The IOC is trying to split hairs by stating that athletes can talk about their own experience “from
a first-person perspective.” But they can’t
act as journalists by “reporting” on any other events.
I don’t believe the IOC will be able to control the thousands
of athletes who wish to engage in social media to show their national pride, even
if they are not considered accredited media. The rules go on to say that blog
posts (or Tweets) can’t contain logos, moving images, or Olympic assets. But if
the IOC were so worried about professional endorsements being a distraction, then
why did they allow professional athletes to participate in the games years back?
And why then do the Olympics embrace corporate sponsorship as well?
C’mon, IOC get real. Social media is
nothing you can control or should try to control. You should embrace the spirit
of the games and expect that all athletes will abide by the Olympic code of
ethics and represent their countries honorably. So stay out of their Tweets,
and let the world engage in a first-person perspective of the games. The world
will be tweeting; why shouldn’t the Canadian curling team?
Stay tuned for my second 2010
Vancouver Winter Olympic blog entry: The Global Village Gets a Bit Smaller in
Vancouver.
Tags: social networks, Web communities
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