The Development of Social Media and its Impact on the Intercultural Exchange of the Olympic Movement, 2004–2012

The development of social media, in the form of Internet and mobile platforms, has rapidly flourished in the early twenty-first century. The changes in broadcasting forms of the first three Olympic Games of the twenty-first century, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012, have corresponded and reflected the speedy expansion of this social media. This phenomenon invites not only attention to the historical transformation of the roles of media for the Olympic Games but also reflection on the concept of culture and intercultural exchange based on this phenomenon. This paper studies the relationships between social media, cultural exchange and the Olympic Games in the context of globalization. It argues that the characteristics of social media as ‘participation; openness; conversation; communities; connectedness’ will meet up with the goal of the Olympic Movement and aid the realization of the Olympic Ideal.