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Twitter winning gold at Games

Social site a boon for Manitobans in London

By: Lindsey Wiebe

Posted: 08/2/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

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Twitter Winnipegger Karen Sunabacka with a Canadian flag she knit for the Olympic Games.

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Twitter Kelly Battistuzzi, Taylor McMillan and Melissa Baines at Olympic Park.

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Scott Heppell / The Associated Press Canada's Desiree Scott plays against Sweden on her birthday, July 31. Her present? A spot in the quarter-finals. 'Best teammates ever,' she tweeted. (CP)

Winnipeg's Desiree Scott celebrated her 25th birthday this week on the same day she marked her 50th appearance with the Canada women's soccer team -- and the same day the team earned a spot in the Olympic quarter-finals.

Naturally, that sort of good fortune warranted a tweet: "What a memorable 25th bday! Berth to the London 2012 quarterfinals, 50th cap and celebrating it all with the best teammates ever! Luv u all." Throngs of fans responded with words of encouragement to the message, which was accompanied by a snapshot of Scott's birthday haul.

A similarly supportive outpouring of tweets accompanied Winnipeg cyclist Clara Hughes' fifth-place finish in the women's time trial Wednesday, a move that meant an end to her goal of a seventh Olympic medal.

These aren't the first Olympics in which Twitter has played a role, but never has the platform seen stronger support than during the London Games. Consider the Beijing Games in 2008, a year when the site was tracking around 300,000 tweets daily. That's a shadow of the activity seen in 2012: The network broke the 400-million tweets-per-day barrier earlier this summer, and more than 10 million tweets mentioned the Olympics in the days following the opening ceremony on July 27.

The growth in social chatter surrounding the Olympics hasn't been without its bumps. A 17-year-old was arrested in England after tweeting threats to a British diver this week and heavy spectator tweeting was blamed for technical problems that led to disruptions in BBC's cycling coverage last weekend.

And with the surge in live-tweeted events has come a wider expectation of live broadcasts. U.S. broadcaster NBC has been the target of intense online criticism, complete with the prerequisite #nbcfail hashtag, for its tape-delayed Olympic broadcasts and sometimes glitchy online live-streaming.

But the social media boom has largely been a boon for fans. Beyond instantaneous updates on wins and losses, there's the chance to engage with athletes -- an official Twitter list includes 159 Canadian competitors -- and take part in a global Games conversation, one both informative and entertaining. Many of the millions of initial Olympic tweets focused on the opening ceremony, and there was no shortage of wit and humour in the blow-by-blow commentary.

The online connectivity has also been a perk for expats living abroad during the Games. Winnipegger Kristy Slough, in London on a two-year visa, works for the Olympic Delivery Authority as a spectator transport manager. Social media has been a great way to keep up with news on the home team, said the 25-year-old, one of a group of Winnipeggers sharing Olympic observations via Twitter for the Free Press website. "One of the hard parts of living here is that it's harder to get Canadian coverage."

Winnipegger Melissa Baines, 27, is also in London on a work visa, and said she's enjoyed watching photos from around the country emerge via Twitter. "Almost every day, there was someone posting pictures of seeing the torch relay all throughout England, which is really cool," she said.

Neither Preston Parsons nor his wife, Karen Sunabacka, were Twitter users during previous Games.

"This is my first Twitter Olympics," said Parsons, a Winnipegger in England to do his PhD. The couple are taking in all the events they can, and Parsons said he particularly likes being able to share photos of competitions directly with athletes via Twitter.

The network has also helped rekindle some old connections. Sunabacka said she's now following Canadian Olympic rower and fellow Winnipegger Janine Hanson, whom -- in a particularly Winnipeg twist -- she remembers from summer camp.

lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

The bird's the word

Follow tweets from Manitobans visiting, working and competing in London during the 2012 Summer Olympics at wfp.to/olympics

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 2, 2012 A4

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