USA TODAY’s Kelly Whiteside writes under the header in an above-the-fold front-page piece, “In Our Social Media World, A Debacle Is Just 140 Characters Away, And The Games’ Image Is On The Line.” Under IOC rules, athletes are "encouraged to blog and tweet 'provided that is not for commercial and/or advertising purposes' so they do not conflict with official Olympic sponsors and broadcasters." The USOC "doesn't have a formal social media policy, but it encourages athletes to be thoughtful with their decisions and cites cautionary tales" (USA TODAY, 7/20)....In L.A., Michelle Maltais examined available mobile apps dedicated to the Games. Although Twitter “won’t go into detail on how it plans to highlight Olympics-related tweets, it is expecting huge traffic” (LATIMES.com, 7/19)….USA Cycling will reward gold medalists at the Games with “up to $100,000 in bonus money, creating the richest known Olympics financial program offered by any cycling organization in the world.” The program, called the “London 100K Challenge,” includes “up to $75,000 for silver medalists and up to $50,000 for bronze through funding” from the USOC (AP, 7/19)....Sources indicated that music group Spice Girls “could reform for the first time since 2008 this summer and play at the Olympic Closing Ceremony.” The group “will sing two songs” (London TELEGRAPH, 7/20).
