IOC Head of Social Media Alex Huot (@Olympics) has been with the Olympic body since ’98 and worked on the early iterations of its website. He has been in charge of social since the '10 Vancouver Games, when he was the only one handling those duties. As the Pyeongchang Games begin later this week, the IOC will have 11 staffers on the ground, in addition to the Olympic Channel having another seven or eight to contribute to the social media effort. Huot said of the Olympics’ growth on social media, “We have the Olympic Channel, the Olympic Museum and social handles there. We are adapting to what is available in an organic sense.” He said of Pyeongchang, “These may be the 'story' Olympics. We see stories on Instagram, stories on Facebook, we are also on VK -- Russian social media, we are Weibo with stories there (in China). Stories have become like a hashtag.”
Digital evolution of the IOC:
It's the natural progression of how people gathered communities. Bulletin boards were a precursor to what we are doing. Now we are seeing things like emojis, which are an interesting thing to discuss because as things evolve, we want to speak emoji, because then we are in touch with our fans and athletes. There is a time and place for everything. There is no doubt that the way we speak has an impact on the way we create content, share and take part in it. The only bit of technology still around from when we launched the website in 1998 is gifs.
Interaction with governing bodies:
If you look at the ecosystem, it’s an amazing space. It’s global and in many languages and there are different ways to understand what is trending. We do speak to the various stakeholders -- from the sponsors to the broadcasters to the teams to the athletes and to the fans and as many people as we can. We also try to look in real time at what is trending and what is performing well on social media. Also, what is great content might not be performing all that well, but we want to amplify. It’s a principle that’s not based on comments, likes and shares and the different signals that a piece of content gives back to social media platforms.
Keeping up with athletes:
Just after 2010, I spent time in the athletes village in London and would ask, “Are you on social media? What’s your handle?” I met a lot of athletes and tried to understand how they engage, how they connect. At the same time, we would speak with the national Olympic committees. (Sochi) in 2014 were interesting Games, as we saw a really deep use of social media through the teams and sports federations. When I think back to Vancouver (in ’10), only two teams and only one sporting federation was using social media.
Focusing on storytelling or results:
Story is so important. It is critical that you use a strategy that is linked to the platform. Every Games is a little bit different. In 2012, we launched an Instagram account. It was definitely an interesting space happening on Instagram back in ’12. There are many areas such as volunteers that are super important. Behind-the-scenes content is super important -- like what it’s like to be at the Games, the culture. There is a pretty big list of results. Also, how do we drive tune-in for broadcasters? Or amplify the sponsors and the content they are sharing? Also just taking the time and wishing everybody good morning and good night. We want to share as much as we can.
Available languages:
I believe there are nine languages on our site and it continues to grow. We recently had a video that hit the Arabic channel that had eight million views on Facebook. Last year was the biggest year for us outside of Rio in 2016, and there are various reasons why. But clearly, the more languages you speak, the more friends you have, and the more knowledgable you become and the better content you can share.
Facing hurdles:
Our record is quite amazing. It’s always bigger. The focus for us is really to think about content. Is that content that fans want? Is that the conversation they want to engage with? I can tell you from the Youth Olympic Games to each edition of the Games, there hasn’t been one thing that hasn’t worked.
North Korean involvement in Games:
We are witnessing an incredible moment. It is awe-inspiring. We did a post on Instagram and the unification flag photo has more likes than any image we’ve had this year. It’s a team, like every team, and at the same time every team tells an inspiring story. We will want to share what is happening there as with every team. These are stories of the human spirit and celebrate all of our humanity.
If you know anyone who should be featured for their use of social media, send their name to us at
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