A world united in sport? Or an Olympic army of occupation that is taking over London causing tailbacks and mayhem? What’s the truth of it?
Headline findings
- 37.8 per cent of tweets sent were positive about the Olympics.
- 36.0 per cent of tweets sent were neutral about the Olympics.
- 26.2 per cent of tweets sent were negative about the Olympics
- 6.5 per cent of tweets sent were critical of the commercialisation or emforcement by LOCOG of brand guidelines. They’re counted in the overall negative list.
Overall:
- More than 4 million accounts were reached by the tweets.
- More than 6 million impressions were made by the snapshot – that’s all the individual tweets added up.
The top three tweets
All three of the top tweets from the survey were classed as negative:
“The #Olympics have colonised what I see, read, watch, how I move, what I drink and what I wash my hair with” on.ft.com/OaJCqG
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) July 23, 2012
RMT confirms industrial action on south west trains from this Friday. #olympics
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) July 23, 2012
Pakistani minister offers to sell fake #Olympics accreditation attached to their team. Serious security alert exposed by The Sun. #EDL
— IvorSawbottom (@ivorsawbottom) July 23, 2012
But some things are were striking…
Critical tweets. To have a quarter of tweets in the #olympics hashtag with four days to go would show a surprising degree of dissatisfaction. But with the event yet to start there is still time to change things.
Dissatisfaction with LOCOG. To have 6.5 per cent critical of the commercialisation of the games and how LOCOG are enforcing the rules is a significant number for a non-sporting issue. But while the issue is big in some quarters it’s simply not amogtst many.
LOCOG not engaging. LOCOG are not engaging with Twitter criticism and the Olympics Twitter account with more than a million followers is just tweeting a handful of times. Surprising when there is so much to communicate.
Brands are not engaging with the #Olympics hashtag. The main sponsors – McDonalds and others – were absent from the snapshot of tweets.
Excitement. There is genuine excitement amongst many people that the games are almost here, that they are in London.
Is hashtag crashing the new guerilla marketing? A handful of smaller companies are using the #Olympics hashtag to target the event. Accomodation companies, bookmakers and others are tweeting using the hashtag.
Athletes. For the first time at a big event competitors themselves are having a large say.
A cross-section of tweets in the run-up to the event tells a limited story. But it does show some pointers. With the Olympic movement not connecting with social media the conversations and chatter are clearly being shaped and dominated by those outside the corporate VIP area.
There is also much excitement ahead of the games – the majority of tweets are positive.
It will be fascinating to see how it pans out.
A snapshot of tweets…
Postitive, negative, LOCOG bashing and hashtag squating…
It’s time for the whiners to stop complaining. Let’s enjoy the event. The #olympics and the world have arrived in London.
— Richard Quest (@richardquest) July 23, 2012
@AbigailSPaul It may be the #Olympics or the weather or both. But everyone walking to work across Tower Bridge in London looks happy, yay!
— Paul Gibson (@PaulGibson20) July 23, 2012
The suns out, London looks shiny and I’m going to the #Olympics this week!
— Hannah (@lovelashlondon) July 23, 2012
The only way to avoid travel meltdown during the #Olympics is to take the franchise off @SE_railway … utterly useless. #southeastern
— Random Cat Toe (@Random_Cat_Toe) July 23, 2012
Severe delays on the tube and now stuck in traffic on the bus… And it’s not even 7am #London #Olympics — Charlotte Gower (@CharlotteGower) July 23, 2012
Already there are reports of heavy handed policing in run up to #olympics. You can’t keep folk out of their homes! bit.ly/MCrnZF — Caron Lindsay (@caronmlindsay) July 23, 2012 Anger at LOCOG’s brand guidelines enforcement
RT @paullewismoney: LOCOG bans local newsletter from publishing 40p #Olympics special. Box Hill News editor resigns. bit.ly/O794vq — David Flint (@dfscot) July 23, 2012
Love sport but hate #Olympics trade mark and sponsorship madness? It’s collected here storify.com/anyapalmer/tak… — Paul Lewis (@paullewismoney) July 23, 2012 Hashtag crashing…
The #olympics is getting closer, we have a celebration beer, Flame Runner in mini casks, only 3.9% a lovely session drink for all the games
— Adnams Holkham (@AdnamsHolkham) July 21, 2012
Have you seen our special London package with @JuliaBoggio for the #Olympics? More details on avolus.com/photo/…
— Avolus(@Avolus) July 23, 2012
[Press Release] NBC #OLYMPICS & PANASONIC ANNOUNCE NEARLY 80% OF U.S. TV HOUSEHOLDS WILL RECEIVE … #3D BROADCAST … bit.ly/NKsSqG
— Panasonic FULL HD 3D (@panasonic3d) July 23, 2012
Just seen the Tunisian Olympic Basketball team #notlong #Olympics #London #exciting
— Gina (@ginaigoe) July 23, 2012
Kingston prepares for Olympic torch relay bit.ly/OinaII
— Kingston Guardian (@kingstonnews) July 23, 2012
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