As we are certainly proud of all the Olympians from the USA making their mark on history, there is more than what meets the eye, marking history. For the first time in history bystanders and well-wishers are seeing their favorite competitors go for the gold in real time via social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, just to name a few. With these outlets, Olympians are able to keep in constant contact with fans and spectators alike. But what happens when policies such as the “Rule 40†of the Olympic Charter take effect and bar some of their “private†thoughts and activities?
For many of these athletes, not being able to tweet or post statuses, makes them feel as though they are cutting into their own pockets as most of their tweets are credits to their sponsors that inevitably gave them the ability to compete, be it monetary or overall fame itself. We often wonder that if we continually limit freedom of speech, can we still deem it free speech? However, when the outspoken words of anyone becomes detrimental to another person’s being, physical and mental, then the line must be drawn as in the cases of competitors threatening one another and the deranged upset fan that felt the need to verbally attack one of the Olympians (he was later found and arrested). But as technology has brought us thus far, one can only imagine where it will take us in the later years because one thing is certain, as many cannot believe they have just been awarded the gold, we cannot believe that a mini device such as a cellular phone could get you front row seats to all the action.
http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/07/ioc-social-media/
