Remember the Olympics Opening Ceremony, during which there was a 57-or-so minute dance routine about how cool it is that people can send texts and post on the Internet about all the cool, dynamic things happening in their lives? The IOC sure thought it was cool, until it turned out, no, it isn’t cool, because overwhelming tweets are hindering some parts of the games.
Tweets, Texts Causing Problems, IOC Warns Spectators
GPS transmitters on bikes had issues due to the large number of texts spectators were sending, causing the IOC to tell everybody to shut up unless it’s really important.
Scenario: You’re at a packed stadium, the game just ended, and you need to call a friend, but, oh no! No bars! Frustrating, isn’t it? You see, everybody else wants to use their cell phones, too, and the network, which can be most easily likened to a series of invisible tubes, is jammed from all of the data usage clogging up the tubes.
It’s really frustrating, however, if you’re an Olympic TV commentator and the data you need to commentate on the event is dependent on an overloaded network. That is exactly what happened during the cycling road race when GPS transmitters on competitors’ bikes had trouble keeping commentators up to date on the action. The IOC says the problem was caused by the Twitters.
As Reuters reports, the IOC spokesperson said it would “certainly never prevent people” from tweeting, but “if it’s not an urgent, urgent one, please kind of take it easy.”
So, Olympics attendees, an update on the event is OK. That picture of the sandwich you got from the concession stand is not. Your Facebook friends will thank you. Meanwhile, the USA Men’s Basketball team is strongly advised to continue tweeting hyper-important things such as pictures of each other sleeping. It’s a vicious cycle:
Many inadvertently made matters worse by venting their anger on Twitter at the lack of information.
Haha, that’s really funny! (Opens Twitter, makes snarky comment, universe explodes from monumental stupidity of human race.)
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