Comments on: London Olympics volunteers told not to share on social media

By: Cabinet Office launches social media guidance for civil servants | The Wall Blog

Thu, 17 May 2012 11:28:41 +0000

[...] Prior to that we read about how London Olympics volunteers told not to share on social media. [...]

By: The Turndog Tales – 08/01 – 13/01 « Turndog Millionaire

The Turndog Tales – 08/01 – 13/01 « Turndog Millionaire — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 20:06:15 +0000

[...] is the ‘Really…Are you God Damn serious’ part of The Turndog Tales this week. If you click on the link below you will see how London’s planning to stop volunteers at the [...]

By: 2012 Olympics in Social Media & Consumer Electronic Show | The ODM Group

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:09:29 +0000

[...] [source] [...]

By: Matt Robshaw

Matt Robshaw — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:23:47 +0000

Sean and Mark make great points. The whole purpose of social media is to encourage engagement, and if large organisations are going to take part in it then they need to recognise that it cannot be used to control conversations. Instead, they should make the most of its benefits to further promote the excitement behind the project, and how it is involving ordinary people from across the country.

As has been suggested, guidelines that allow public engagement without compromising security would be best. After all, guidelines are meant to guide, not censor.

By: Richard Alvin

Richard Alvin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:10:33 +0000

Briony is right and Mark LOCOG are not banned the use of social media, but are asking their volunteers to follow a few guidelines for safety and security and also the comfort and enjoyment of famous visitors.
We also need to bear in mind that unless you are on O2 you won’t be able to get a mobile phone signal at the main stadium site anyway following the deal that LOCOG have done with them so there won’t be huge volumes of mobile sharing happening anyway.

By: Adrian Wilkinson

Adrian Wilkinson — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:32:33 +0000

If they are volunteers then they can do just as they like. The Olympic authorities have no jurisdiction. What will they do sue them for breach of contract. Another good example of ‘big brother’ & why the Olpmpics will be a disaster

By: Sean Clark

Sean Clark — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:10:33 +0000

When are these big organisations going to get over themselves. A missed opportunity to leverage the Social Networks of thousands of volunteers for the good of sport worldwide.

On one hand they say they actively encourage the use of Social Media on the other there are so many restrictions on what can be said it almost nullifies the point of saying something.

As Mark suggests they should have produce a strategy that would actively encourage participation for the benefit of all.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:03:48 +0000

I agree with Mark, what an amazing opportunity to see first hand how social media could bring the Olympics right to your phone by those that are there.

Instead of saying “no social media”, the LOCOG guidelines should allow some social media activity with a heavy caveat around what can be shared (and any non-compliance swiftly dealt with).

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:02:11 +0000

I agree with Mark, what an amazing opportunity to see first hand how social media could bring the Olympics right to your phone but those that are there.

Instead of saying “no social media”, the LOCOG guidelines should allow some social media activity with a heavy caveat around what can be shared (and any non-compliance swiftly dealt with).

By: Briony

Briony — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:12:31 +0000

They can tweet but they’re ‘told they mustn’t disclose their location, break any news about an athlete or post photos or video of areas of the Olympic site that are not visible to the public’

Surely that’s for security purposes? As well as protecting the exclusivity of the event coverage through traditional media, e.g TV? I can understand why they’ve asked this of volunteers but I agree that it’s going to be virtually impossible to monitor the social activity of potentially 70,000 people!
@brionygunson