I was on Madison’s ABC affiliate today (WKOW.TV) sharing some of my views on social media and how it’s influencing and changing the Olympic experience for many (UPDATE: VIDEO IS TEMPORARILY DOWN ON WKOW.TV)
WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports
One of the biggest issues is, of course, how people in the US are getting results from the games before they are televised in prime time here. While that’s interesting, I think is absolutely critical for businesses to understand how far the social media has come in the past four years. Since the Olympics in Beijing in 2008, much has changed. Twitter was 2 years old in 2008, Facebook only 4. Those two tools are much more robust and mainstream than they were just four short years ago. Usage statistic are incredible. These tools are new and only for the young and geeky crowd.
What is critical for use to learn as business owners and communicators here? People live and interact on social as a huge part of their daily lives. This is true not just of teens or 20-somethings, but true of almost all age and socio-economic demographics. Online social spaces are places where we congregate, interact, express our joys and frustrations and spend a significant portion of our days. By listening to conversations taking place, learning from those conversations and thoughtfully and genuinely engaging in them, we all stand to help our businesses and organizations stand on top of our own podiums.
