Facebook yesterday announced that the company is “launching Explore London 2012, a dedicated page for athletes to communicate with fans and provide their own personalized updates around the event, including medal wins and their own photographs as well as status updates,” according to Ingrid Lunden of TECHCRUNCH.com. The campaign is “part of an effort to be able to claim” that ‘12 will mark the first “Social Olympics.” IOC officials said that they “started to work with Facebook on the effort some 18 months ago.” Facebook will “not run any advertising” during the Games. Facebook Head of Int'l Business Development Christian Hernandez said it will not be advertising during the Games because of “the notion of a ‘clean venue’” at the Olympics itself, with no branding or ads. Facebook’s relationship with the Olympics “is not exclusive,” as there will also be “dedicated portals on Google+, as well as a Twitter branded page, a one-day check-in event with Foursquare (on Olympic Day), a project with Tumblr, and another specifically with Instagram.” Hernandez said that Facebook is “working extensively with advertisers and brands to bring the Olympic experience to the social network -- even if that will not appear on its Olympics page itself.” Lunden noted the announcement “marks another kind of evolution of how the International Olympics Committee is also trying to make the whole thing into a more social and audience-focused event, while at the same time balancing that against the multimillion-dollar commercial interests for broadcasting that have been so closely entwined with the event” (TECHCRUNCH.com, 6/18).
