• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, January 6, 2012

The London Olympics, scheduled for July 27-August 12, will be an impressive logistical feat, judging by the sheer numbers of personnel involved. In addition to 13,500 troops on guard duty, a small army of 70,000 unpaid volunteers are expected to help run the London Olympic Games, 30,000 of whom have already been recruited. With admirable foresight, the London Organizing (sorry, make that Organising) Committee has issued guidelines governing social media use by volunteers to ensure security as well as protect the commercial interests of sponsors.

According to the guidelines issued by the Organising Committee, volunteers are forbidden to disclose any information about their own personal role, their location, or any information about athletes, celebrities, or visiting dignitaries. This includes posting any pictures, videos, or statements about VIPs who may be visiting athletes “backstage,” as well as any images of the backstage area itself. Volunteers should also avoid posting breaking news about athletes or getting into any discussions about the games online. On the plus side, they can retweet or repost official postings from the London 2012 social media team, which is supposed to provide centralized control of social media content emanating from the games.

While it will be tempting to comment on the procession of celebrities and VIPs attending the game, hopefully the Olympics volunteers will heed the cautionary example of Cameron Reilly, the Buckingham Palace guard who was fired last year for referring to Prince William’s then-fiancee Kate Middleton as a “stupid stuck up cow” and “posh bitch” on Facebook, along with various racist and anti-Semitic comments.

On the athletes’ side, the International Olympic Committee is looking to leverage social media drive engagement, in part by encouraging competitors to “post, blog and tweet their experiences” during the London Olympics. But the IOC is also at pains to protect the commercial interests of broadcast and merchandising partners. Accordingly, athletes won't be allowed to use social media, including Twitter, Facebook and personal blogs, for advertising, selling products, or sharing videos from the Olympic venues. The IOC instructions read: “Postings, blogs or tweets should be in a first-person, diary-type format and should not be in the role of a journalist. Participants and other accredited persons cannot post any video and/or audio of the events, competitions or any other activities which occur at Olympic venues.” In other words, people who want to actually see what athletes did will have to tune in on TV, or an associated online property.