Olympic Hurdle: Using Social Media

The 2012 Olympics are forcing Olympics lovers to consider the unthinkable—staying off the Internet for much of the games' 17-day span to avoid spoilers.

Many people can watch the games live on the Internet. Meanwhile, journalists from news organizations around the world are reporting real-time results from London via television, radio, social media and on websites. Even NBC's Olympic website, its Twitter feed, as well as local television affiliates and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams broadcasts are sharing the results before they air in the US. Despite all the spoilers, so far results have been good for Comcast's NBCUniversal. In its first three nights of the London Olympics, an average of 35.8 million viewers have tuned in, the biggest first weekend for any summer games on record, according to NBC. Average viewership has been 1.4 million more than the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and five million more viewers than the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which was mainly live.