Twitter vs Facebook at Winter Games

Organisers of this year's Winter Olympics have called the games "the first social media Olympics." Games organisers are elaboratingly using social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter to convey and communicate with visitors, fans and even the participating athletes.

Alex Huot, the newly appointed head of social media for the International Olympics Committee (IOC), who blogged about his role here, told the international media that he thought Vancouver was going to be THE question for the web's social media giants: Who will get the gold?

The race is between Facebook and Twitter to establish themselves as the most visible and viable online connection for fans wanting to connect to athletes and get the latest updates from the competition without the filter of conventional media.

But it is Facebook, the social network, that appears to be the focus of more organised efforts to create an online hub to the Winter Games. The IOC has used Facebook to create an Olympic Games page that now has more than a million followers.

The IOC is also using Facebook to conduct a fan photo contest, awarding free tickets to events to winners, and has created Olympic mini-games on the social network.

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