Why is social media being blamed for Aussie athletes’ poor performances at the 2012 Olympics?

by Brad Keeling @bradatslice - Head of Marketing at One Small Planet

Whose fault is it that our athletes are not coping with their social media activities at the London 2012 Olympics? Is it the  Australian Olympic Committee? The AIS? Who?

It’s all very well that the AOC and the AIS and any other sports management body blame Twitter and Facebook. But it’s not Twitter and Facebook’s fault. Maybe it’s time to outsource some social media management support.

In tears at only getting a silver medal, swimmer Emily Seebohm said straight after her swim that she had spent too much time on Twitter and Facebook,  that she’d stayed up too late on the sites in the lead up to her swim. Later, clearly after she had been spoken to by management, sports psychologists and the like, she changed her tune saying she “didn’t think her obsession with social media had cost her the gold medal”. Almost the same words came from Stephanie Rice in an interview with the ABC. Obviously the athletes are now toeing ‘the company line’.  Read more...