London Olympics: The Social Podium

Over 1 billion people will be viewing the summer Olympic games.

Not every athlete qualified for London and not every loyal fan is able to afford cheering from the sidelines of the games. But every one can connect to the London summer Olympics through the social media platform. If social media was an Olympic event, there would be about one billion athletes (mobile users and TV viewers combined) competing for the gold. Here's a breakdown of social networks and their activity during the London games.

Phelps and Lochte will be pushing each other to the podium.

As the host TV network, NBC has established Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages dedicated to the 2012 London summer Olympics. The NBC London Facebook page has a fan base of 311,000 social fans. Follow the 2012 Summer Olympics here. With polls, trivia and US highlights, NBC has leveraged the social sphere by capturing Olympic events as they occur and alerting followers on how team USA is performing. Like the NBC London Facebook page to stay current with live events and watch to watch for.

The nest is anything but empty when it comes to tweeting about the Olympics. According to the NBC London Twitter page, almost half a million tweeters are contributing to over 30 million tweets, averaging about 970 tweets per minute. Follow the Tweet tracker here to see how the US is trending in the social platform. Will Misty-May and Carrie-Walsh repeat with gold? Tweet your voice here. Stay up to date stroke by stroke with Phelps and Lochte. Gold medalist and gymnast Gabby Douglas is the most popular athlete to tweet about with 78 tweets per minute.

Gabby Douglas grabbed the individual Gold.

If you are all about highlights and re-living history, then you need to subscribe to the NBC Olympics YouTube page. Check-in and see how Hope Solo and Team USA are handling the soccer field. With 30,000 subscribers, NBC Olympics has generated over 32 million YouTube videos. If your cable provider includes NBC then you should be able to stream events live on your tablet, phone and laptop.

If you are feeling the need to be inspired, visit this NBC link here. Tune into the NBC Olympics Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages this weekend as track and field events begin!

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