Official London 2012 Olympic blog

Just came across the London 2012: Work in Progress blog. It only started on November 21 and is an official team blog from the London 2012 Olympic leadership team. The description says:

This site will act as a blog for the London 2012 project – opening the door to what we are doing to deliver both a spectacular Games in 2012 and long term benefits to the UK.

It is created by people involved in London 2012 and they will keep you updated on all the latest developments. We will also invite other people whose lives are being touched by the Games to contribute from time to time.

Looks good so far, but three things immediately strike me as not right:

1) Commenting guidelines:

No advertising, promotion of products or services, or posting of web links (URLs). But if you know of an interesting web site, do let us know.

Personally I’m always uncomfortable with blogs that don’t help to create social networks. Not publishing web links is a mistake. I’d have preferred it to say something about reserving the right to remove offensive or commercial advertising links.

2) Commenting guidelines – Keep within the law:

No personal information relating to yourself or any one else – for example, address, place of employment, name of educational establishment, telephone or mobile number, email address.

Not publishing contact details is very sensible, but asking commentators not to publish ‘place of employment, name of educational establishment’ is potentially unethical. How can you comment openly and transparently if you are forbidden from saying where you are from and disclosing what your interest is? The CIPR draft social media code says that when commentating you should disclose you are in PR and what your interest might be. On the London 2012 blog its own terms prevent you from being open, honest and transparent – probably not what they were trying to achieve.

3) The contributors section misses out one important person. ‘The editor’ is anonymous and should really be identified – even if it is only a list of several people in the communications team.

The London 2012 blog contributors are:

Sebastian Coe is Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee. No stranger to Games glory, he led London’s Games bid to victory and has won two gold and two silver Olympic medals.

Paul Deighton is Chief Executive of the London 2012 Organising Committee, in charge of day-to-day operations. Previously COO of investment bank Goldman Sachs, Paul is a keen runner and Arsenal fan.

Connie Henry is our video blogger. Connie is a former international triple jumper and won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in 1998.

Occasional contributors:

Pete Gardner is Chief Executive of the British Athletes’ Commission. A competitor in the UK’s Men’s Quadruple Scull in Athens 2004, he brings an athlete’s perspective to Games planning.

Clare Strange is a Wheelchair Basketballer who has competed at two previous Paralympic Games. As a member of the British Athletes’ Commission Olympic Group, she will help to advise Games’ planners about athletes’ requirements.

Charlotte Davis is a Young Ambassador for the Youth Sports Trust, representing young people’s hopes and ideas for the 2012 Games. She represents her county at 800m and 1500m.