Social Media at Rio Olympics

Question: Discuss about theSocial Media at Rio Olympics. Answer: Introduction: Today, the Olympics are ingested in a very different manner. The appearance and ensuing reception of online networking has changed the way fans and competitors watch and take part in the tricky Games. Competitors incorporate their Twitter handles, media identities and channels upgrade their social records progressively, hashtags are made to pursue discussions around the Olympics, and so on. Fans and onlookers today can get an a great deal more inside and out and continuous perspective of the exercises regardless of the fact that they are not present at the genuine occasions. (Bernardo, 2016) For the Rio Olympics, there are these two agencies names Adweek and Sprinklr who have teamed up to keep track of how many channels and partner are performing across social media networks, and if we look at the number of brands, it exceptionally high. And this is how we see Use of Social Media at RIO Olympics 2016 a great subject which can make or break reputation of any country, participant or organization. (Girginova, 2016) As per Sprinklr's data, men accounted for 66.5 percent of all brand mentions on various social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google+ and other channels. From Samsung to Coca- Cola, each brand has its own way to portray things. Like recently P.V. Sindhu, an Indian candidate won the semi- finals and the social media was flooded with the excitement for the next final match. The social media site Facebook was flooded with posts and mentions for the candidate of the country India. This certainly shows that how her reputation has got boosted through the Facebook channels. (Lui, 2016) Its not just limited to how does reputation get boosted due to a large number of Facebook mentions but the trending subjects and hash tags. (Martinelli, 2016) Olympic athletes might be very unique and so important for one certain organization or country but when it comes down to Social Media they are totally like us. On social media handles, they all are same and like all of us feel that there is something at stake like our respect, reputation. And when we have many athletes who are Millennials the average age of USA teams participants is 27 years and thus the trend has been that they frequently post training updates, have live interact with fans. And soonRio de Janeiro, they plan on different approaches to engaging on social media- until they are done with their matches or competitions. Like many players have said: The statements are as follows: Fencer Jason Pryor has said that- There is time for everything and for him its after his match. He has also mentioned that the worst thing you can do is to get involved in a lot of social media stuff and then actually suffer from consequences of getting boosted or damaged. Londons 2012 Summer Olympic Games a following of 4.7 million users across all the social media platforms. Sochi had 5.5 million alone on platform of Facebook. But have we ever thought that as mentioned earlier, how boosting or damaging it can be for the player to play under such circumstances. Olympics allow athletes to take benefit from social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to connect with their followers across the world. But when the reverse happens, like the image Michael Phelps game face. This 19-time gold medalist was preparing to race in the semifinal of the200-meter butterfly when the cameras found him snarling at some other player and that was it. The memes on social media sites went viral in minutes. And this is what we call the power to even damage the image of such a great player. (Reimer, 2016) The InternationalOlympic Committee did their best in order to save the pictures and they should not be online but still the power which these platforms and the number of people using it have is immense and thus it had to go viral within minutes. Despite the number of rules and regulations there is such an issue over the use of social media and the rules which IOC has over the same issue. The IOC had categorically mentioned in the games that the ones with no rights wont be allowed to share gif images during the Games, which might range from live videos or Vines. The rules categorically mentions that turning images into vines, gifs etc. is strictly prohibited and this is making the platforms of social media to be more creative. This makes them damage the reputation of the country to which Michael Phelps belong to and his own personal reputation. SB Nation had created a GIF on Twitter and the video zooms in on the still frame of Phelps and then has word soon written in bold. (Girginova, 2016) And its just not faces but even the uniforms of US Olympic team- Team USA have a new uniform at the Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony. They were mocked because of the color scheme and load more. (Daye, 2016) The social media platforms have come up withspecial features and toolsfor the platform users to enjoy during Rio Olympics 2016. We talk about how such a response is generated on damaging and boosting someons reputation in Rio Olympics- Its because of the craze entirely. There was this study which was commissioned by Facebook just few days before the games had commenced. They found thattwo-thirds of Facebook and Instagram users have actually planned on seeking out Olympic contenton Instagram and Facebook. (Conversation.com, 2016) The hashtag also which was covered on Instagram and Facebook and even Twitter #CoverTheAthlete, social media users have tried and solve the problem and even have highlighted many examples of unsuitable commentary at Olympics demanded many media networks which should focus their coverage on the performances of athletes and should not focus on their appearance. (abc.net, 2016) This campaign have actually not effected or boosted somebodys performance and reputation of any participant but actually its to rectify the mistake of the committee. This campaign was originallylaunched last year when the Australian commentator asked Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard was asked to turn and tell about how the dress was. And this completely showed that how the flashing of a backlash from viewers were too sexist and patronizing. (Kirkpatrick, 2016) Since we have many examples of participants who have actually had so many examples of athletes winning or not- there is a tremendous contribution of social media in making or breaking the same. All the best teams. References Martinelli, M. 2016, Social media is part of the game for Olympic athletes, https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio-2016/2016/08/05/social-media-kerri-walsh-jennings/88312484/, Accessed on 20th August, 2016 Girginova, K.2016, How Social Media Will Define the Olympics Success, https://time.com/4438840/rio-olympics-social-media-success/, Accessed on 20th August, 2016 abc.net, 2016, Rio 2016: #Covertheathlete hashtag takes aim at sexist coverage of female athletes, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-17/rio-2016-social-media-goes-after-sexist-coverage/7760352, Accessed on 20th August, 2016 Lui, S. 2016, Rio Olympics the most social games ever, sport marketing prof says, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/laurentian-social-media-olympics-1.3712546, Accessed on 20th August, 2016 Conversation.com, 2016, Will social media define the success of the OlympicGames, https://theconversation.com/will-social-media-define-the-success-of-the-olympic-games-63021, Accessed on 20th August, 2016 Girginova, K.2016, Will the Success of Olympic Games be Defined by Social Media? https://thewire.in/57383/will-social-media-define-the-success-of-the-olympic-games/, Accessed on 20th August, 2016 Bernardo, E., 2016, Social Media and the Olympics, https://thesocialmediamonthly.com/social-media-olympics/, Accessed on 20th August, 2016 Reimer, A., 2016, Michael Phelps Face Meme Explodes Despite Olympics Social Media Restrictions, https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexreimer/2016/08/09/michael-phelps-face-meme-explodes-despite-olympics-social-media-restrictions/#2350fae72989, Accessed on 20th August, 2016 Daye, A 2016, Team USA's Olympic uniform mocked on social media, https://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/02/americas/team-usa-olympic-uniform-mocked-irpt/, Accessed on 20th August, 2016 Kirkpatrick, D, 2016,Why the Olympics' social media blackout doesn't make much sense, https://www.marketingdive.com/news/why-the-olympics-social-media-blackout-doesnt-make-much-sense/424280/, Accessed on 20th August, 2016