London Olympic Volunteers Warned About Social Media Use

For some, it's almost instinctive to use a smartphone to snap a photo of something interesting or notable and immediately share it with their friends on Facebook or Twitter.

However, volunteers at the 2012 London Olympics might want to think twice about their social media use at the games. According to Reuters, volunteers have been warned about using social media to share news or whereabouts of athletes, celebrities, and politicians present at the event.

A London Organizing Committee (LOCOG) spokesperson told PCMag that it's not out of the ordinary for organizations to lay out social media guidelines for its staff, and that it's simply provided "advice."

"We understand that many of our Games Makers (volunteers) will want to use social media to share their exciting experiences at London 2012 with their friends and family," the spokesperson said. "As is standard in most organizations, we have provided some practical guidelines to give basic advice on interacting in a social media environment with the aim of protecting the interests of our workforce and operation."

Olympians at the Games are permitted to tweet, post, and blog about their time in London, but they're essentially only allowed to document their own experience, rather than the experiences of other athletes. The International Olympic Committee issued guidelines over the summer and rolled out a Web site dedicated to eradicating unauthorized content.

The London Olympics run from July 27-Aug. 12. LOCOG is currently recruiting more than 70,000 unpaid volunteers to work at the games.

For more from Leslie, follow her on Twitter @LesHorn.

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Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398484,00.asp?kc=PCRSS05079TX1K0000992

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