FYI: @IOC Is Not the International Olympic Committee

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Fireworks are seen over the Olympic Park during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Feb. 7, 2014.

Image: Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Megan Garber for The Atlantic 2014-02-10 17:24:19 UTC

The Open Institute of Catalonia is a university in the northeasternmost region of Spain. It focuses on virtual learning, and bills itself as a "university of the future": a "university that exists on the web, that grows, interacts and shares knowledge freely for the benefit of society as a whole." One sign of the school's web-savvy: It got itself a coveted three-character handle for the Twitter feed it runs in the Catalan dialect. That handle? @Ioc.

The school might be regretting its snappy handle choice right about now, though. Because IOC, of course, is also the acronym of another body: the International Olympic Committee. And the International Olympic Committee, as it tends to do every two years or so, has been finding itself the recipient of some indignation from people who disapprove — of the Olympics' politics, of the Olympics' venue, of the Olympics' venue's bathroom situation. These people are angry. They take to Twitter to express that anger. And they assume, fairly, that the IOC's handle is ... @ioc.

As a result: Poor old Open Institute of Catalonia — followers: 3,100; followees: 1 — has been treated, this week, to tweets like these:

• Perhaps the First Film Explaining Cellular Phone Service


• 5 Intriguing Things: Hilary Mason Edition


• 5 Intriguing Things: Hilary Mason Edition


• Paul's Powerpoint to the Corinthians

This article originally published at The Atlantic here

Topics: sochi olympics, Sports, Twitter, US & World, Winter Olympics 2014, World

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