page_title: Social media coverage of the Olympics
section_title: 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics
hierarchical_section_title: Social media coverage of the Olympics / 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics
caption_attribution_description: English: Shaun White 2018 Winter Olympics
context_page_description: Over the years, television broadcast rights have distinguished what Olympic-related content can be accessed by fans online. By doing so, mobile-friendly social platforms began to integrate into the Olympics. Athletes and fans use these platforms to share live updates, special moments, and behind-the-scenes specials.
  The rise of social video and social broadcasting technology has provided a huge opportunity for Olympic athletes, teams, and sponsors to bring coverage to fans like never before. Olympic-related content has infiltrated all forms of social media, including Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. It is expected to expand in the coming years.
context_section_description: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) deemed The Vancouver Winter Olympics as "the first social media games” based on its fan base through social media platforms. The IOC launched their Facebook page a month before the games began, attracting 1.5 million fans. Shifting to online viewing attracted a younger audience than past Olympic games with over 60 percent of Facebook fans being under 24 years of age.
  Athletes like Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White reached fans on social media as the platform posted behind-the-scenes coverage on their experiences. The IOC used social media to create competitions between athletes and fans streamed online. Its YouTube channel hosted a “Best of Us” challenge in which the public could compete in games with their favorite athletes, acquiring three million viewers. Photos spread across social media platforms, such as Flickr, which had 11,000 photos posted by 600 photographers, bringing a new perspective to the games.
  Twitter contributed constant live updates of the competitions. The IOC’s Twitter following doubled to 12,000 followers during the Vancouver Olympics, creating a larger viewer population for the games. The IOC created social media guidelines as more athletes and fans got online to interact with the Olympics. Social media was still relatively new as a marketing platform, so these guidelines confused many individuals.
caption: Shaun White
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