Sochi Hashtags You Shouldn?t Miss

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia is creating a lot of buzz on social media. Several hashtags have been made where people show their appreciation to the traditions as well as praise their national representatives in each sport. Other hashtags did not do so well, however, and reflected a completely different issue other than the original intent of the creators (probably!). The hashtag #CheersToSochi was initially created by McDonald?s together with the website CheerstoSochi.com for people around the world to cheer for their favorite athletes who will be participating in the Olympic Games. However, the fast food giant was unaware that the website CheerstoSochi.org already exists, thus, spawning confusion. The latter website was created by LGBT activists to fight anti-gay laws in Russia. Now, the hashtag has been hijacked by gay and lesbian activists and sympathizers. McDonald?s immediately removed the hashtag when it discovered the error. The hashtag has reached 23,800 tweets so far and 50.1 million impressions. Another hashtag #SochiProblems, did not highlight the good in the Sochi Olympics. Many started sharing the bad living conditions in Russia and shared photos of unsanitary hotels, restaurants and other establishments. People tweeted how Russia is not ready to host the Winter Olympics, considering how majority of its citizens are living in poverty. Others posted jokes about Russia?s government and why the state leaders could waste their time on games when they should be funneling funds for food and homes. The hashtag has, so far, reached 360,000 tweets and 928 million impressions -- but, as we know, the messages of the posts have been either satirical or downright straightforward and critical.

There were tweets about corruption in Russia and jokes on how visitors were having a difficult time due to third world problems like dysfunctional elevators, blackouts and even disease. Others shared funny memes on how the athletes were going to perform in the snow, specifically hinting on the flaws of living in Sochi, Russia. These hashtags take away the focus on the XXII Winter Olympics and delve more into socio-political matters.

Fans Talk Smooth With #OlympicPickupLines

And because it's Love Month, expect Twitter to inject some "romance" angle into the whole equation. The hashtag #OlympicPickupLines trended reaching 33,700 tweets and 104 million impressions.