The Big Day
There’s a really big event coming up on Friday, April 29, 2011… and no, I don’t mean that you have only two more shopping days until my birthday.
It has to do with a certain prince marrying a certain commoner in London. As one of those people who awoke at 5 a.m. with my mom to watch Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer get married in 1981, I have to admit that even with the advent of Tivo, I’m planning to do the same this Friday. After all, how often do you get to see a spectacle like this?
With that in mind, it’s time to look at how the Royal Wedding will be covered in the social media world, and what tools you can use to enjoy the pre-wedding timeframe even more (especially if, like me, your personal invitation got lost in the mail).
Official Channels
Clearly, the British Monarchy learned a thing or two from their flawed strategy following the death of Princess Diana in 1997. The grieving public wanted to communicate with the monarchy, but the monarchy? Well, not so much… their desire to maintain a stoic dignity was a major PR debacle. (See the fabulous movie “The Queen” with Helen Mirren for a terrific analysis of this story.)
This time, the royal family is showing they can modernize… in the way they are providing social media channels to communicate with their subjects. For example, I was very impressed when the @ClarenceHouse Twitter account was opened… suddenly Prince Charles (or I’m guessing, his staff) began tweeting about various aspects of the upcoming royal wedding. Nice going, Charles.
Here are some other websites and social media channels that the royals have set up in honor of the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton:
We Interrupt this Blog for a Viral Video…
If there was ever an event designed for YouTube, it was this… check this out! T-Mobile clearly wanted this to go viral, and it has, with over 12 million views!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kav0FEhtLug&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
CNN
In order to prevent massive numbers of cameras swarming inside Westminster Abbey, there will be ONE newsfeed for all of the news organizations in the world. That’s right, one. Whether you are watching CNN, NBC or any other channel, the video images (once they enter the church) will all be the same. So how will the different news organizations differentiate between one another? Besides news anchors (Meredith Viera and Matt Lauer on NBC, Piers Morgan and Anderson Cooper on CNN, etc.), they will have to find other ways to make themselves stand out from the crowd.
I confess, I’ll be switching back and forth between CNN and NBC, as those are my favorite news channels. So allow me to cover what they’ll be doing for their coverage.
First of all, in addition to being able to watch the wedding live on CNN.com (at this link), CNN has set up a terrific blog to cover all things royal wedding. I particularly like the countdown clock… a simple but fun widget to help build excitement. CNN has also set up a Facebook event for the royal wedding, and a Twitter account.
Finally, CNN has some terrific GetGlue! stickers (for those who don’t know, GetGlue is the FourSquare of entertainment) you can earn by signing in while you’re watching the event. (Piers at Westminster Abbey, Anderson at Buckingham Palace, and Kiran Chetry at Hyde Park) Of course, CNN will be using videos from iReporters on the scene. For more info on CNN’s coverage, check out this link. (Does anybody else wonder why CNN chose that picture of the happy couple for the headliner? They look glum, or even bored.)
NBC
Lucky girl, Meredith Viera has been in London all this week (and Matt, Ann, Al & Natalie will be there by Friday morning). NBC is definitely using social media to promote this wedding to the max. First of all, they have set up a blog in which they are posting articles every few hours now, called The Windsor Knot. Definitely worth checking out for all of your need-to-know info!
The Today Show is also using its own Twitter account just for this occasion… how lucky was NBC to get this Twitter handle? @royalwedding They will also encourage their viewers to use the hashtag #royalwedding, and will incorporate these tweets onto their broadcasts and the iPad app, so viewers can see the comments as the royal couple ride along the parade route.
Oh yes, and did you know… there’s an app for that! NBC has created an app, allowing you to get all of your royal wedding data from the convenience of your iPad or iPhone. To get it, go here.
And one last viral video…
Finally, here’s one more viral video making the rounds… an a capella version of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. Except it’s called “Royal Romance” and it’s sung by the men’s singing group at St. Andrew’s University (where Kate and William met).[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAlnM7RUDcA[/youtube]
I hope you all enjoy the festivities, and see you bright and early on April 29!
