November social media round-up: Royal Weddings, Beatles, Christmas and Path

As we move into December and with all the attention turning to Christmas, the social media stories that hit our headlines in November may be a distant memory to you. So in case you’ve forgotten, here’s a round-up of all the social media stories that got us tweeting in November.

The Royal Family

To some this may have been more interesting if it was about Jim and Barbara Royle, but November has been full of news stories about the Windsors. At the beginning of the month, The British Monarchy got tongues wagging when it finally signed up to Facebook. The Palace has had a presence on YouTube and Twitter for quite some time but it decided to take the next step into the world of social networking when it launched its official fan page on 8th November.  To date, the page has nearly 300,000 fans!

And wherever the Royal Family goes, controversy follows. It wasn’t long before anti-royalists posted comments on pictures and updates about a number of controversial issues that crop up time and time again, e.g. Diana, tax payers’ money etc. Fans are unable to post on the main wall, but can comment on updates and photos/video uploads. Some have  received more than 3,000 comments must prove quite a headache for the Royals’ comms team! As a social media agency we wouldn’t usually advise our clients to do this, however the Queen’s Facebook page is a good example of how to manage such a high profile and controversial brand.

Not long after the Facebook page launch, there was another long awaited Royal announcement that got the online world talking. Prince William finally popped the question to Kate Middleton. Within a few hours of the announcement, #royalwedding was the number one trending topic on Twitter followed by Kate Middleton at number two and Prince William at number three. BlogPulse showed that Kate Middleton was the second most featured person on blogs worldwide behind Harry Potter.

The online buzz gave a good idea of the sentiment surrounding the announcement. It was mostly positive (43%) on Twitter, another 41% of Twitter users responded neutrally to the news; and just 16% of tweets about the engagement were negative. Around 32% of bloggers reacted positively, while most (63%) conveyed a neutral reaction. Comments were mostly congratulating the happy couple with others projecting anger about the tax bill.

But, this is one trend that won’t be dying down for a long time. In the days, weeks and months leading up to the big day on 29th April 2011 there is sure to be a lot of online chatter about Kate’s dress, invitees and all things bridal.

Beatles on iTunes

While everyone was getting excited about an extra bank holiday because of the Royal wedding, iTunes had another announcement that got Beatles fans excited. The Beatles back catalogue was finally available to download on iTunes. This was a trending topic on Twitter as everyone anticipated the announcement; unfortunately it was slightly eclipsed by Will and Kate. But, it didn’t stop Simon Cowell from getting in on the act by making that week’s X Factor Beatles themed!

Christmas

It wouldn’t be November without a few Christmas stories.  Monday 29th November was termed ‘Manic Monday’ as people logged on to start their Christmas Shopping online in earnest. It was predicted that £22 million would be spent every hour by British consumers! Our recent report into the online shopping explosion shows that customers are the new product experts. People now trust reviews they see online from people they don’t know.  So, as more and more people go online to buy gifts, it will be interesting to see if user generated reviews influence purchase decisions.

Path

Path officially launched this month, a new social network that aims to be more personal. If you’re not a fan of sharing photos on Facebook with people you can’t remember from school, then path offers a personal and convenient solution. You are allowed up to 50 contacts that you can to share your photos, videos and information with. We’ve all singed up in the office and will be keep a close eye on how our clients can get involved.

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