Twitter's Olympics hub, part of a partnership with NBCUniversal that will be announced as early as today, "is one of the first times Twitter will serve as an official narrator for a live event," according to Shira Ovide of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. NBC will "tout the website with on-air promotions and links to athlete interviews or video clips." With the partnership, Twitter "hopes to use the Olympics as a launch pad into a more sustainable business." Execs want the six-year-old service "to find a larger audience, especially amid doubts about Twitter's ability to become a serious money maker." Twitter VP/Media Chloe Sladden said, "This is a way for new users to sample Twitter." NBC said that no money "is changing hands in its Twitter partnership and that it won't share in revenue from ads that Twitter is selling to Olympics sponsors for its Games website." Brands such as General Electric and P&G "already have bought ads on Twitter to promote their association with the Olympics." Twitter "declined to comment on the money it hopes to generate from the Games." During the Games, Twitter will use its Olympics events page "to highlight insiders' views, and to encourage people to watch NBC's on-air and online coverage." Twitter will "embed its own staffer with NBC's social media team in London to ensure fresh news, interviews and links to TV highlights will show up on Twitter" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/23).
