A recent survey by Taylor Strategy analyzed people’s attitudes towards the Olympic Games and specifically whether they were going to be using social media to connect with others at the event.  They found that women, and mothers specifically will be the most active in social media — their use of social to connect with others outpaces other social groups such as Gen Y and Gen Z.

The study was done on 1,000 U.S. consumers to attempt to gleam insights into how users will be interacting with the London 2012 Games.  The survey found a few active groups that shared behavior patterns and were not mutually exclusive, including: Avid Olympic Fans, Moms aged 25-54, Affluent Americans with HHI 100k+, Youth aged 13-23, and mobile device users.

Overall, Taylor states that these will be the first true “social media games”, stating that people will have constant content and constant social media outlet opportunities.  There will be a lot of talk over the social webs about the performance of various countries, and my personal take is that we should expect to see some interesting new ways of showing your patriotism on social media.

Some other surprising stats from the study are below.

• Of the total survey sample, 20% state if they could choose just one device to watch the Olympic Games it would be something other than TV.
• Friends and Family: “Sofalizing,” or socializing in person and on social media platforms while watching a televised event, will be an integral part of the Olympic Games experience. More than half (51%) of those surveyed say the Olympics are more fun to watch with friends and family, and even more Avid fans (72%) believe this to be true.

Take a look at the video below for more insight from Taylor.