Facebook has just published some fascinating lists looking at what millions of people have posted on Facebook during 2011. They call it “memology” and it takes the pulse of Facebook’s 800 million strong global community. Charlie Sheen captured people’s attention in March, when his trademark “winning,” “tiger blood” and “goddesses” memes took off. Later that month, military operations got underway in Libya, prompting a surge in status updates mentioning “Libya” and “Gaddafi.”

The marriage of Kate Middleton and Prince William dominated the conversation in April and days later it was  the death of Osama bin Laden, which became the most talked about event on Facebook for 2011. On May 1, almost 10 percent of all status updates in English mentioned news of his death. On a lighter note 2011 was also the year of “lms” and “tbh” went viral. Read More »

As Twitter continues to look back over 2011 it has released a timeline charting the top Tweets Per Second (TPS) of 2011.

It is a list of the news as it happened, the live events and breaking news, and how millions of us came together to watch and share in real time via Twitter. Read More »

Twitter has release a couple of nice data visualisation videos showing how during major events, like the the World Cup the royal wedding and the March 11 earthquake in Japan, people use Twitter to share news and how that virally spreads across the globe through retweets, @replies and Direct Messages. Read More »

Twitter has released a video and some great examples that underscore the powerful relationship it has formed with television highlighted so well by the Royal Wedding where broadcasters when big with social media.

The examples and video really drives home how well broadcasters are now using Twitter and the benefits they are getting from it as audiences show their willingness to join an ever growing conversation. Read More »

So the campaigning by both sides for and against the Alternative Vote is all but done and tomorrow we vote. There have been high profile, and prolific, tweeters from both camps, but has this had any impact?

Not according to research released today by Portland and Tweetminster, which has found that apparent voter apathy about AV is reflected across social media. Does this proves, perhaps, that even with social media and a group of people who know how to use it you might still fail to get your message across? Read More »

The photo of president Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team as they “receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House” is on its way to becoming the most viewed picture on photo sharing site Flickr ever. Read More »

#royalwedding: promoted by Slim-Fast

I was intrigued this morning not to see that the ‘royal wedding’ is trending on Twitter, but that it was today’s promoted tweet.

Surely, I thought, the royal family hasn’t taken to Twitter in a bid to shore up support for the monarchy – and of course, they haven’t. But Slim-Fast has, in a bid to make itself the diet of choice for brides-to-be.

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It used to be so straightforward. When the Queen got married in 1947 you listened to the live radio broadcast. When Charles and Diana wed in 1981 you watched it on the telly (on one of three channels).

Now in 2011 we are spoiled for choice in coverage of Wills and Kate’s big day. And with a third of smartphone users having downloaded royal wedding-related apps, it’s a fair bet that we’ll be following events on more than one medium – watching the ceremony on TV while posting cheeky comments on Twitter.

Here’s the coverage on offer. How will you be watching and reacting to the events? Read More »

It looks like no one wants to miss out on the Royal Wedding, which is already proving a massive hit for some.

The T-Mobile Royal Wedding ad has already been viewed 5.5 million times on Youtube, which will pull in millions more with its live streaming of the Royal Wedding. Read More »