IOC bans GIFs from Rio, internet reacts poorly

Rememberthe GIFof the SochiOlympics opening ceremony when one of the snowflake Olympic rings just wouldn't open?

Or the GIFof the Austrian slope-stylesnowboarderwho had a false start at theSochiOlympics and then had to climb back up the slippery hill only to slide back down?

Fast forward two yearsto the Rio Olympics,and youmight have expected some whimsicaltidbits of social mediavideo showingMichael Phelps's game face scowl. But have you seen many #phelpsfaceGIFs?

Nope.

The International Olympic Committee has decided to clamp down on all GIFs. IOC rules state; "The use of Olympic material transformed into graphic animated formats such as animated GIFs (i.e. GIFV), GFY, WebM, or short video formats such as Vines and others, is expressly prohibited."

Naturally their absence has some fans quite upset.

One Twitter user even pointed out the Big Brother nature of it.

Of course the IOC can handle a few huffy tweets.But by running with this ham-fisted approach,it shows it doesn't have a sense of humour or fun, and itrisks losing out on the very audience on which its future depends.

IOC vs. social media

The IOC did not state explicitlywhy itbrought this change in 2015,but one can make some inferences.

Broadcasters including the CBC pay millions of dollars to get nationalexclusive rights to televise the Olympic Games in their own countries.

EliciaSalzberg, a University of British Columbia lecturer in commercial law and business fundamentals, says the IOCis trying to retain control of how its content is viewed and in a way, justify charging the amount it does for therights to broadcast its content.

"It would be a reasonable interpretation that they're doing thisso that they don't splinter or fracture the audience from their traditional media stream,"Salzbergsays. "They want to preserve the value that they offer in their relationships with these official sponsors."

But audiences are starting to turn away from traditional media, such as television, while at the same time digital audiences have been growing.

Live-streamingplatforms, such asFacebookLive and Periscope, whichdid not exist before 2015, have burst out of the gate and found new, younger audiences.In many cases, the audience you can amass onFacebookfar outpaces the audience you'll find ontraditionalmedia.

And it's a generally accepted fact thatmonetizingonline content and more recently social media content is difficult.

Recognizing this potential problem, the IOC decided it needed to up its game.

Ithas gone from passively watching othermedia outletssuccessfullyventure intosocial media to now taking a more active role.During theGamesand especially while in official venues, all athletes and accredited mediahave to follow its social media dictates.

"They're basically trying to stopnon-affiliatedcompanies from finding ways to exploit an association with the Games,"Salzbergsaid. "Now the IOC is reacting and trying to control andmonetizethese new platforms. And they're doing that by putting in these very strict rules."

IOC rules

But the IOC can set whatever rules it wants, because, well it can, and media outlets that cover the events have no choice but to accept them because the Olympics are generally a ratings bonanza.

There are other requirements many media outlets adhere to geofencing content so only people in a specific region can see that content (typically restricted toa country) and not posting videos on Snapchat.

Breaking these rules is not worth losing the right to broadcast the Olympics for most media outlets.

Writing on the wall

To be fair to the IOC, it's not the only sporting organization that has put restrictions on social media.

Gawker Media's sports siteDeadspinand Vox Media'sSBNation had theirTwitter accounts suspended forGIFs of NFL-owned content for copyright infringement in 2015.

A year later, Twitter is reportedly payingthe National Football League $10 million USto stream 10 Thursday night games during the 2016 season.

It's hard not to see the writing on the wall. Sporting organizations are trying to retain control of their content on social media, but the very act of controlling social media is at odds with the concept of social media.

What most of us love about the mediumis its inherent distance from authorityfigures and its disruptive, quirky meme-filled, GIF-laden fun.

A photo could do the job when covering a triumphant sporting moment, but a GIFor animated video would be so much better, and the audiences know that.