Every year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the entire Olympic Movement encourages people – young and old – to participate in sports activities to commemorate the birth of the modern Olympic Games on 23 June 1894. This year, however, by reaching out to its millions of fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter and YouTube, the IOC has prompted tens of thousands of people to get up off the sofa and get active, and then share their sporting moments via videos, photos and text messages.
All of the IOC’s digital platforms have been in Olympic Day mode since the beginning of June. The homepage of the IOC’s web site, www.olympic.org, has been revamped to better spread the message of Olympic Day. A map highlighting all the activities taking place around the globe today greets visitors to the site. Olympic Day videos, photos and messages from the general public can be viewed by clicking on the events highlighted on the map.
Twitter and Facebook users are invited to take part in exciting contests. People who tweet what they’ve been up to in terms of sporting activities are eligible to win a trip to the 2012 London Olympic Games, while the IOC’s Facebook fans can win a trip to Lausanne and tickets to The Olympic Museum.
On YouTube, users who upload videos of themselves doing sport are eligible to win a trip to the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck in 2012.
Finally, in China, a call to action has also been sent out on the IOC Weibo microblogging account and the Yuoku video channel, with various prizes being awarded.
“Through our digital platforms, the IOC wants to reach out to young people using their own language and channels of communication,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge. “I am thrilled to see how many people are embracing the spirit of Olympic Day and sharing their sporting moments with us. This is what the IOC has always strived to achieve: to get people active regardless of their age, gender or athletic ability. Thanks to our initiatives in social media, we are reaching out to an even greater number of people around the world and spreading the values of sport.”
The IOC currently interacts with over 4 million fans on Facebook, with roughly 10,000 new fans joining every week. More than 110,000 people follow the IOC on Twitter. In 2010, the IOC’s web site www.olympic.org registered more than 7,000,000 visits.
From IOC Press Release