Medals Yes, Tweeting No

Here’s an interesting piece from Wired talking about an Olympic size dispute over the use of social media. It seems the U.S. athletes aren’t allowed to promote or even thank their sponsors on Twitter during the games. Specifically, IOC social media guidelines say: “Participants and other accredited persons are not permitted to promote any brand, product or service within a posting, blog or tweet or otherwise on any social media platforms or on any websites.” It’s a big money issue – on the one hand, the IOC wants to protect the interests of exclusive sponsors, who paid big money for that privilege. On the other hand, the athletes need to earn a living. It’s caused a bit of a stink, and several members of the track team have taken to Twitter to protest. But seeing as how the IOC is not subject to the First Amendment, I suspect this is one event where the athletes are destined to lose.