2012 is the ‘social media’ Olympics with record-breaking tweets

As Great Britain has begun to strike gold, we’re feeling more patriotic than ever in the Siren HQ office.

It’s a challenge tougher than winning an Olympic medal but try to tear yourself away from the TV screen for five minutes and give your vocal chords a well-deserved rest to catch up on the latest Siren Communications social media round up.

Warning: if you think this will be an Olympic free zone, look away now…

Wednesday saw the twittersphere fly into a frenzy as Great Britain’s rowers Helen Glover and Heather Stanning scooped gold, followed by another podium finish for cyclist Bradley Wiggins after a nail biting performance in the time trial. Team GB supporters took to social media to express their excitement at the gold rush, including Olympic legend Sir Chris Hoy who tweeted: "YESSSSSS!! Absolutely delighted for @bradwiggins and @chrisfroome. History made today." The 2012 Games has already been dubbed the ‘social media Olympics’ as more than 10 million Olympic tweets have been posted since the start of the opening ceremony and 1.2 million good luck messages, with more than 60% of team GB using the service.

Sporting history was also made earlier this week when swimming golden boy Michael Phelps achieved his 19^th Olympic medal at 9.04 pm on Tuesday night, making him the most successful Olympic athlete of all time. Michael took to his twitter account shortly after his record achievement to post a picture of his two most recent medals with the caption: ‘Number 18 and 19 for my career so far!!! Omg I’m speechless right now!’ The athlete was also congratulated by US President Barack Obama who posted on his official twitter feed ‘Congrats to Michael Phelps for breaking the all-time Olympic medal record. You’ve made your country proud -bo’. Phelps naturally replied faster than you can say ‘champion’ to thank the President for his support.

Social media news surrounding the Olympics hasn’t all been positive. A twitter troll who posted malicious comments about diver Tom Daley was arrested this week. The teenager from Weymouth who posted tweets including ‘You let your Dad down. I hope you know that’ after he finished fourth in the synchronised diving event, referring to Daley’s late father who died of brain cancer.

Online booking giants and hotel groups have come under fire this week for limiting price competition between online travel agents. The Office of Fair Trading is launching an investigation into hotel room rate fixing following complaints that small online travel agents were being prevented from taking a share of the market place. Global hotel group IHG insisted that their arrangements with online booking agents are ‘compliant with competition laws’ and tweeted their statement about the investigation to followers.

And finally, The London Eye and Tower Bridge glowed gold on Wednesday night to celebrate Great Britain’s flurry of gold medals. The London Eye has been turning to social media to assess the mood of the nation after each day of the Olympic Games with different colours to reflect how Great Britain is feeling.