Bendable Media

A screenshot from NBC's Winter Olympics app

In a pleasant surprise, NBC has delivered an iPhone app for the 2010 Winter Olympics that lives up to the promise of the games themselves.

When I downloaded the free app — awkwardly titled NBC Olympics on AT&T — I expected a TV guide-type utility, where I would find the schedules for the events airing across NBC’s suite of channels. The app delivers the schedules but the rest of the content offers a level of depth I didn’t expect.

Better, the app embraces the social tools that have come to define modern media. I’ve used the app repeatedly since the 2010 Vancouver Olympics began and I’m finding it to be a great companion to watching the television coverage.

The NBC Olympic app does a very good job of catching you up with the day’s news as well as previewing upcoming events. Stories come from major news agencies, including the Associated Press, but a real strength is that NBC decided to cover breaking news — an event just concluded, there’s been a crash on the ski hill — with photo-driven stories. This gives you a taste of what’s happening quickly.

There’s plenty of video, too, although NBC could be faster about uploading the video content after events. It can take several hours for new videos to appear.

Follow Tanith Belbin on Twitter

But that might by my only complaint.

When you see a news story under the “top stories” or the “featured” menus on the main screen, there’s a little icon next to the story that tells you if it is a text-based story, a photo-driven story or a video. This is a simple and useful time-saving idea.

Another plus is the integration of Twitter feeds from Olympic athletes. The NBC Olympic app does this in a few ways.

On the home page, there’s a Twitter feed that pulls in the feeds from the U.S. athletes at the games. Click on it and you’ll get a random selection of insights, including this from ice skater Tanith Belbin: “Finally found time to get online! 2nd Oly’s even better than 1st so far. Love getting to know the other athletes. Team USA 2010 is awesome.”

Or, you can add athletes to a favorites page to find specific news and tweets from them. The tweets, stories and video segments flow together in a string of content, a clever way to mix personal and traditional media feeds.

Johnny Weir is on Twitter too

I made Johnny Weir, Belbin’s roomate, one of my favorites. (Cute picture!) I love Weir’s spirit and over-sized personality, even on Twitter: “Up early tomorrow for pre-event press conference with the other boys. Goodnight kittens!” I’ve also added Apolo Ohno, Shaun White and the sport of snowboarding as favorites.

If you want to show your support for the athletes, you can do that too. There’s a social tool to post comments about the athletes or events. The comments are moderated.

There are sub-menus for particular sports as well. So if you’re a fan of curling — or just curious — there are plenty of videos to watch detailing the sport’s subtleties and personalities. (Yes, I just wrote that about curling.)

NBC did a fine job with this Olympic iPhone app, turning what could be a static tool for watching the games into a new type of interactive activity. It’s free, so give it a go if you’re a fan of the Olympics.

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