In years past, when the Olympics would roll around, people gather in front of their television to watch the action. However, as seen in this year’s Winter Olympics, more people are turning to their phones and getting the action off Twitter instead.

In the news, though Olympic television ratings were down, social media sites, such as Twitter, were constantly attracting the attention of fans, whether they are fans of the Olympics or not.

Twitter has become the quickest source of Olympic news. It’s able to give fans instant updates on the games in Sochi, while television coverage lacks the speed of the popular social media site. One of the appealing aspects of Twitter is that it’s able to give multiple viewpoints of one event, as well as athletes opinions, from all over the world. Instead of watching an event on television, people are able to look on their phones and see what other people are saying about the game, rather than just the announcer. Athletes, through Twitter, were able to post pictures and live videos as well as tweet their comments about times, winning or losing, and mistakes they made during the games.

For example, with the Olympic coverage of the U.S. hockey teams, Twitter allowed the public to react. This way, users always had updates on what their sport teams were up to while in Sochi, Russia. With so much access to the Olympic players and their lives, you can get updates that show them working out, meeting their roles models, walking in the Olympic opening ceremony, and even the many Sochi fails.  With so much access to the Olympic Games and Olympians through social media, it only makes sense that television coverage ratings have gone done.

This year you did not need to watch the Olympic games to know what was going on. All you needed to do was check the Twitter hash-tag for the Olympic Games to be updated on sports progress. Each athlete made this Olympic Games enjoyable, and they continue to inspire people to reach for the stars in reaching their own Olympic Games.

As technology continues to bring everyone closer together in the world, updates on games continue to leave fans receiving updates quicker and quicker.  Together, television and Twitter did an amazing job of covering the Olympic Games. Both provided up to date information, yet in the end, Twitter wins in coverage by being able to provide instant updates of athletes and behind the scenes thoughts and pictures. It will be interesting to see what will happen with Twitter coverage with the 2016 Summer Olympics.