London 2012 Olympics were a truly social event – Socialympics Infographic

Not only has the London 2012 Olympics received lots of positive reviews from the media – it has proved successful across the interwebs.

Since the Beijing Summer Olympics of 2008, the number of global internet users has increased from 1.5 billion to 2.3 billion – this means that the online buzz of the games has also risen.

Social media has no doubt played a significant role in Olympic exposure, helping the overall viewership increase by 200 million viewers since 2008 and by a massive 1 billion viewers since 2004.

The London 2012 Olympic Games delivered the biggest national television event since current measuring systems began, with 51.9m (90% of the UK population) watching at least 15 minutes of coverage. 24.2m (42% of the UK population) also watched at least 15 minutes of coverage on the BBC Red Button.

The teams obviously know how important it is for morale, motivation and the fans (not to mention the sponsors) that competing athletes interact with their online followers. This saw the athletes encouraged to hit Twitter during time in-between their events.

If you were in any doubt how far reaching the effects of social media are then a quick look at the London Eye during the games then you would’ve seen its physical implementation. The oversized Ferris wheel on the capital’s south bank changed its colour in response to trending tweets, creating a gigantic mood ring for the games.

Social media, therefore, created an Olympic event that was not only entertaining for fans, but one that was truly interactive – the Paralympics will no doubt continue the socially networked global sporting fandom.

Check out the infographic below dubbed “London 2012 Socialympics” to enlarge it 🙂

London 2012 Socialympics Infographic – An infographic by the team at SEO.com