London 2012 Organisers Restrict Social Media Use of Volunteers
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) put in place social media rules for the 70,000 volunteers for London 2012. The volunteers, also known as ‘Games Makers’ have to sign in to a particular part of the LOCOG website where the rules are outlined in a document. Additional restrictions prevent Games Makers from making public statements relating to the London Olympics or speaking to schools about the events without permission from an Olympic spokesperson. Games Makers can mention their involvement in general terms but cannot go into specifics.
The following rules have been set out for Games Makers:
- not to disclose their location
- not to post a picture or video of LOCOG backstage areas closed to the public
- not to disclose breaking news about an athlete
- not to tell their social network about a visiting VIP, eg an athlete, celebrity or dignitary.
- not to get involved in detailed discussion about the Games online
- but they can retweet or pass on official London 2012 posts
The volunteers of London 2012 could have provided great stories from behind the scenes and help drive engagement of the Games. A spokesperson for LOCOG told the BBC: “As is standard in most organizations, we have provided some practical guidelines to give basic advice on interacting in a social media environment with the aim of protecting the interests of our workforce and operation.”
What do you think of the restrictions made by LOCOG?
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