Harsh or completely sensible? Controversy over athletes social media usage.
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| wired.com |
2012 Olympic athletes are now under pressure to limit their use of social media during the games.
The International Olympics Committee (IOC) encourages social media by fans and athletes; however they only allow posts to social media networks which are written in a “first-person, diary-type format”*. Sharing videos from the Olympic Village has also been banned, and athletes are required to gain permission from fellow athletes before sharing photos of them.
The reason for this being that the IOC want to discourage athletes from providing information which may otherwise be reported by broadcast partners or other media outlets.
Is the IOC taking these rules too far?
American sprinter Nick Symmonds spoke to Mashable about the situation and described the rules as “ludicrous”,** and other athletes have stated the rules as “stifling” and “overbearing”. ***
This could also create confusion amongst fans and social media followers of the 2012 games – will sharing information about their favourite athlete be interpreted as a first-person post? Or simply overstepping the mark?
Watching the events on TV is entirely different from instantly engaging with contestants and spectators first hand – social media updates allow fans get to see what happens behind the scenes. In this day and age, this kind of exposure is expected with an event such as the Olympics. Allowing more digital freedom will allow athletes a larger platform and create more exposure for the games. It would also inspire people from around the world to interactively get involved, so surely allowing it will act as an advantage for both the IOC and the athletes.
Should athletes have more freedom when it comes to social media? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
*(News.com.au, 2012)
**(Mashable, 2012)
***(The times of India, 2012)
Beth McNally
Marketing Assistant
@BethAtSMF
Harsh or completely sensible? Controversy over athletes social media usage.
Reviewed by Anonymous
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Thursday, July 19, 2012
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Reviewed by Anonymous
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Thursday, July 19, 2012
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