Rio set to break social media records

Records are set to be broken in Rio - and not only on the sporting stage.

More than 150 million tweets were published during 16 days at the 2012 London Olympics but Jonno Simpson, head of sport partnerships at Twitter Australia, has his bets on video content breaking records at this years' games in Brazil.

"As a fan, you get to choose how to see the content and video will be much bigger. Video will be king - it will break records," he told AAP.

Australia's time zone typically means only diehard fans stay up until the early hours to catch live action.

But social media shifts power to the fans and allows for direct access to athletes, including personal footage pre and post events, as well as behind the scenes at the Olympic village.

"The onset of technology has been rapid in the past four years," Mr Simpson said.

"It takes you there when you want to be there. The athletes will want to share it with us, and we will also be seeing Rio.

"It's not just about the sport, but the flavours, the music, the food."