The 2012 Summer Olympic Games (London 2012) are the first social media Olympics.  Like never before both fans and athletes will be able to follow along and interact this year.  Women are major participants both in competition and online.  Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube will be used like never before.  How can red-hot Pinterest factor in?

First Social Media Olympics

They have been dubbed “The First Social Media Olympics” by Time.  From the Opening Ceremonies on July 27 through August 12 these games will be more interactive than ever before.  Coaches and athletes alike will be sharing on Facebook, tweeting, and blogging with fans subject to International Olympic Committee guidelines.  Due to their support brands and broadcasters will be protected.

Women are one third of major sports viewers

A recent post from Iconoculture.com on their Iconowatch blog mentioned that women account for “more that a third of major sports event viewers”.  Similar numbers should be realized as the world catches “Olympic fever”.  This will likely also carry over to social media use and participation this summer.  Marketers take note here.

The usual suspects: Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube

You can follow your favorite Olympians on Twitter and tweet, retweet, and reply to them.  I recommend making a list in Twitter of “2012 Olympians” and following @London2012.  On Facebook you can “like” The Olympic Games.  On YouTube you can subscribe to the London 2012 channel and The Official Olympic Channel by the IOC as well.  YouTube will join NBC on their website: “YouTube is teaming up with NBC to live-stream the Games. According to NBC, you’ll be able to see every single event live on NBCOlympics.com, which will roughly add up to 3,000 hours of coverage. All of the live-streams will also be available on mobile devices.” Read more: http://techland.time.com/2012/03/07/youtube-to-live-stream-the-london-2012-olympics-for-nbc/#ixzz1z7gsifZA

The Pinterest factor

Last time around at the Beijing 2008 Olympics Pinterest did not even exist!  Women are dominant on this social channel and will be key in its use.  Pinterest has 10 million unique visitors and growing.  It drives more traffic than Twitter!  There are also 9 million Facebook connected users all according to Techcrunch.com.  A quick search on Pinterest for “2012 olympics” yielded quite a few pins, but no official pinboards or pinners that I could see.  Right now there are more infographics, Olympic logos, and poster art being pinned than actual photos.  Sounds like a great opportunity for someone to take the lead and really shine here. Let the pins and tweets begin!

How will you participate in the London 2012 Games?

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Peter Trapasso

Social Media consultant at PeterTrapasso.com

Peter is a self-taught social media and wine expert who owns http://PeterTrapasso.com, a social media marketing blog. As part of a 15+ year corporate career in technology he worked for Fortune 500 and startup companies. He is also one of the 75 most followed people on Twitter in San Francisco. And a Top 1% Kred Social Media VIP and Klout Influencer. As seen in Information Week, Yahoo! Small Business Advisor, Google News, Business2Community, and Social Media Today.

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