Twitter users looking for live commentary from the event will be able to follow a new Rio 2016 section in Moments, the platform’s curated news feed. Twitter is ramping up Moments with dedicated feeds for key sporting events, and country-specific tweets. These new Moments will be available in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, and France.
As usual, tapping the follow button on a Moment of your choice will see its tweets appear in your timeline. Two additional Moments feeds will allow users to keep track of the day’s highlights, and medal counts throughout the entirety of the Olympics.
For those of you more accustomed to taking part on Twitter, you’ll be able to show your support for your home country in your tweets with the platform’s new emojis. Twitter is rolling out 207 new icons, including flag emojis that can be activated using country-code hashtags (such as #USA). Olympics enthusiasts can also add over 50 sports emojis to their posts, alongside the official #Rio2016 and #Olympics emojis. The hashtags that trigger the emojis are available in several languages including English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. The sports icons can be activated using hashtags in additional languages, including Japanese, Arabic, and Korean. All the emojis will be rolled out in the coming days.
As is the current trend on Twitter, video will also play a part in its Olympics coverage. Twitter will broadcast video highlights on its flagship platform, and is creating a dedicated Olympics channel on Periscope. The company’s video-looping app Vine will host Olympics-related content in its “Explore” section.
“Twitter’s activation of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will bring fans around the world together to see what’s happening with the teams before, during and after the top athletes compete for glory,” said Leslie Berland, CMO of Twitter. “Twitter, Vine, and Periscope will offer fans inside access, commentary, highlights and conversation throughout the games and as the action unfolds.”
