The German Olympic team has a "lot of catching-up to do in regards of social media usage," according to the DPA. Only 42% percent of the 392 German athletes have an official website, a small number of 30.2% have a Facebook page, and with 18.2% even fewer use Twitter as a marketing and communications tool. Those are the findings of Dusseldorf-based digital advising company kpunktnull. The two teakwondo athletes are the top Facebook users of the German team. Both have a Facebook page. They are followed by tennis players, of which 85.7% use Facebook as a marketing tool, the gymnasts (84.2%), table tennis players (71.4%) and swimmers (60.5%). Only 57% of the German cyclists and tennis players have discovered the usefulness of the micro-blogging service. The German field hockey players (32.4%) still trail the sailors (33,3%), but "shine over the last couple of days with increased activity." Overall, the German Olympic team is lacking in regards to social media usage. Kpunktnull CEO Thomas Knüwer said, "Athletes of other countries have already discovered that social media allows them to be more independent of traditional media outlets. German athletes have a lot of catching-up to do in this area." For example, Michael Phelps has 5.4 million Facebook fans, but German counterpart Paul Biedermann reaches only 0.1% of this number (DPA, 7/26).
