The royal wedding will be broadcast live on Youtube as Prince William and Kate Middleton get digital for their nupitals. Twitter, Facebook and Flickr will also be made use of to keep the world up to date on the royal wedding day.
In a historic first, footage of the royal wedding will be streamed in real time on Youtube’s Royal Channel accompanied by a live multi-media blog put together by St James’s Palace.
Points of interest along the processional route will be annotated and viewers will be able to click to see additional information.
From today, there will be a video wedding book on Youtube “for the public to sign” by uploading their videoed messages for Prince William and Kate Middleton. The site will be moderated to filter out those not so enamoured with the royals.
If you feel moved to, sign the royal wedding book here.
Today, the royal wedding book on Youtube had racked up over 14,000 views.
ROYAL WEDDING SOCIAL MEDIA:
Twitter – twitter.com/BritishMonarchy
Facebook – facebook.com/TheBritishMonarchy
Official website – officialroyalwedding2011.org
Youtube – youtube.com/user/TheRoyalChannel
The move to integrate the wedding with social media is thought to have come from Middleton.
“When Catherine worked for her parents’ business, Party Pieces, a big part of her work was online and she has been consulted throughout about what we are planning and has offered her own suggestions,” said an aide.
The British Monrachy has 130,000 followers on Twitter, while Clarence House has more than 34,000. A running Twitter commentary on the royal wedding has been promised.
The event will also be chronicled on an official website, as well as on Facebook and photo-sharing site Flickr, while William’s press office is preparing a live blog with commentary.
Opening up the royal wedding via social media inevitably means that a range of views will be made public.
Commenting on Youtube has been disabled and, although most Facebook comments are gushingly pro-monarchy (“Marriage is a piece of heaven. Enjoy your wedding day. Many blessings.Love you,” writes Marina Otto), there are dissenters.
“I feel obliged to celebrate the marriage of two people who I have never met. Why am I not invited? I’m paying for it,” asks Louis Mulvagh on the British Monarchy Facebook page.
Jonny Hartley says cryptically: “May their long and happy marriage be the last one of the monarchy of the UK.”
Putting the sentiment more simply, when asked “Want to send a congratulatory wedding message to Prince William and Catherine Middleton?”, Jay Thoene comments a candid “no”.
