Community Corner

Olympics Social Media Spoilers: Real-Time News and Prime Time TV

Have you learned Olympics results when you didn't want to yet? Join the discussion and vote in our poll how you're "viewing" the London Games.

The Olympics aren't just on TV anymore.

While NBC broadcasts highlights from each day's events from London -- six hours ahead of Central time -- in our time zone's prime time for television, the results are already being broadcast somewhere else: the Internet.

Social media and news sites, though some try to caution viewers with "spoiler alerts," are posting results as they occur in London time. KSDK even suggests "closing your eyes" or looking away before they post a graphic of medal tallies from the day during its 5 and 6 p.m. broadcasts. 

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But if you're devoted to grabbing a seat on the couch and watching what happens happen at 7 p.m. each night, you may have been disheartened to learn results from excited friends and social media outlets before you saw race conclusions and judging tallies occur with your own eyes.

The Huffington Post shared an article calling avoiding spoilers a "sport of its own." NBC even apologized for letting some particularly good news leak -- Missy Franklin's gold medal win -- before it aired on the network, promising "it won't happen again."

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Maybe you didn't know the USA women's gymnastics team won gold. Or that Michael Phelps had become the most decorated Olympian of all time. And if you don't know by now, I'm not sure what country you're in!

So how are you viewing the Olympic Games this go-around? Are you watching more with your Facebook or Twitter feed? Scoping the news sites at lunch time? Or waiting until NBC and its affiliates air the Games' highlights?


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