What will you be looking out for at the Rio 2016? I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll be tuning in, along with me, my mum and the rest of the world, to the Men’s 100m Final on the evening of Sunday 14th August. In 2012, an estimated two billion people watched Usain Bolt cross the line!
But we all know that the Olympics is much bigger than huddling round the TV to watch this one event. Since London 2012 social media usage has exploded and we have no doubt that #rio2016 will be globally trending for the Olympic fortnight. At Lucre’s recent I&I event, gathering industry experts to talk about the impact of Rio 2016, Logan Wilmont, Creative Director, said: “This will be the first truly social games, playing out on mobile.” Our newsfeeds will be filled with memes, clips and pics from the games. Today I stumbled upon an article listing the ‘100 must follow social media handles’ for Rio 2016. ONE-HUNDRED newfeeds to follow, sounds like a few too many for me.
So how can we sift through the world of social media to find an Olympic niche? Well, I am going to look out for the “firsts”. Firsts on the fringes, firsts behind the scenes and firsts upfront at Rio 2016. Here are my top three firsts I will be looking out for:
- The Olympic virgins
This year Kosovo and South Sudan entering the Olympics for the first time. They are just two of the 206 countries and 10,500 athletes taking part in this year’s games. I am keeping my eyes peeled for their tiny teams in the opening ceremony, ready to give them a big cheer.
- There is a first time for everything
Kitesurfing, golf and rugby-sevens are all to become Olympic sports for the first time this year. I have the dates of their debuts in my diary so I know when to tune in.
- Location, location, location
Not only is 2016 Rio’s first Olympic games, it is Brazil’s first, South America’s first and the world premier of an Olympics held in a Portuguese-speaking country. No doubt the BBC will make things easy for us to understand, but I am pledging to learn at least a few words in Portuguese.
Ruth Kelly, Senior Trend Strategist at the Trend Bible said: “Social media means that we are saturated by visual inspiration and Rio 2016 will play to that perfectly, embracing the visual energy of the country.”
So my Rio actions are: follow Kosovo and South Sudan; retweet news on the new sports and celebrate the unique culture, colour and language of games through Instagram.
You won’t drag me away from the TV on the night of the Men’s 100m final, but you will also find me #findingthefirsts at #rio2016.