The Royal Wedding: A Social Media Event
April 29th, 2011-The biggest wedding of the year, generation, millennium, or of all time took place earlier today in London- Prince William Wales and Kate Middelton were married at Westminster Abbey. This was not only a colossal event in England, but all over the world. While more than 2 billion people watched the event on televisions across the globe, many also turned to social media. The event smashed livestreaming records and took the top spots in online trending topics. The social media buzz exceeded the conversation of the Egypt uprising and the tragedy in Japan.
Most tweets and posts discussed were mixed with supporters and those who simply didn’t care. Entertainment Weekly released a poll asking, “Will you get up to watch Wills and Kate tie the knot?” About 39% said yes they will be glued to their television, 22% said they will stay asleep, but record it, and 38% said they will stay happily in bed.
Those across the globe who managed to set their alarms, were anxiously discussing the event online. According to Webtrends, people have sent over 911,00 tweets, 217,000 Facebook status updates, and 145,000 blog posts about William and Kate’s wedding. So, which country couldn’t stop talking? The US took the lead with 65% of the tweets, blog posts and Facebook updates, while only 20% came from the UK. Top influencers included, @nytimes, @eonline and @andersoncooper according to Klout. In addition, Livestream reports that more than 300,000 viewers simulatenously, logged on to watch the coverage online at 6 a.m ET. Many of them focused on, Kate’s dress, Pipa’s dress, Harry and William, the Queen, Princess Diana, public spending on the wedding, the double kiss, the lavish hats adroned the guests and Westminster Abbey.
Here at NBN, we also engaged in the royal wedding bliss. For our client contacts at Walt Disney World Resorts, promoting Disney’s Fairytale Weddings and Honeymoons, we put up video on their Royal Wedding viewing party. It started with Disney’s first-ever “Tweet up” in which the first 250 people who responded to the invitation got a seat in Disney’s Wedding Pavilion for a viewing party of the Royal Wedding. Guests were invited to dress up in “princess or prince attire” – or come in their pajamas for the early morning viewing party that went from 4 am to 8 am in Florida. You can see the video on newsinfusion.
The Royal Wedding was undoubtedly one of the biggest events that married both social media and television. Did you watch the Royal Wedding on TV or follow the social feeds?