You may have seen pictures from our digital agency’s Olympic Social Media Party put on by our lovely summer interns! It wasn’t just about everyone at our digital social media agency eating delicious food; we also learned about how social media impacted the 2012 Olympics.
Who won gold in social media? And, how did the Olympics play out over Twitter and Facebook? These are the questions our digital social media agency interns investigated. Here’s what they found:
Athletes with largest social media networks:
- No. 1 – Lebron James take home the gold with a social network totaling 16.5 million.
- No. 2 – Rafael Nadal’s network totals almost 13.6 million, making him our silver medal winner.
- No. 3 – Kobe Bryant takes the bronze with a social network of 13.5 million.
- No. 4 & No. 5 – Honorable mention goes to Roger Federer’s network with more than 11 million and Neymar Junior with 10.5 million social media followers.
Team with most Facebook likes:
U.S. Olympic Team with 2.3 million likes
Athlete with most Facebook likes:
Michael Phelps with 6.1 million likes
Twitter:
97 percent of all online conversations about the opening ceremonies were on Twitter.
Athletes Banned From Competition Because of Tweets:
- Michel Morganella, a Swiss soccer player, was expelled for a racial slur.
- Voula Papachristou, a Greek triple jumper, was expelled for a tweet deemed racist.
Most Popular YouTube Video:
Call Me Maybe – 2012 USA Olympic Swimming Team
The 2012 London Olympics Games have revolutionized what it means to connect athletes and fans with one another. The prediction that these would be the ‘social media games’ has been proved true. Digital agencies have a lot to learn about social media from these games.
For the first time, the world was able to see what it was like for the athletes behind the scenes. Misty May-Treanor told the world about Russell Westbrook and his teammates helping her and Kerri Walsh train by delivering serves. Swimmer Jessica Hardy tweeted about athletes showing off their musical skills.
With this much change since the 2008 Games in Beijing, we have to wonder: what role will social media play in Rio de Janeiro in 2016? Make your predictions in the comments below!
Check out Agency Entourage, a digital agency competing for gold in our clients’ social media management. We’d love to help you take your social media to the next level, just like the London Olympics did!
