Twitter UK

#AskKermit

2012-01-24T06:13:00.000-08:00

You may have heard that the famous frog is currently in London promoting a new film, and as part of his trip he's decided to join Twitter - tweeting from the @DisneyMoviesUK account and answering questions with the #AskKermit hashtag. Tune in on Thursday, January 26th to follow his adventure and get all of your Kermit and Muppet related questions answered.

Kermit the Frog has a special announcement for all of you! #AskKermit ow.ly/8EcQm
— Disney Movies (@DisneyMoviesUK) January 24, 2012

#YearInReview: top trending Brits

2011-12-06T07:33:00.000-08:00

We were inspired by the Year in Review fun swirling around, so we decided to create our own geographically focused list. Here are the top British personalities that trended on Twitter in 2011:

1. Gerry Rafferty - musician

2. Ricky Gervais - comedian

3. Pete Postlethwaite - actor

4. Andy Gray - former footballer

5. Gary Moore - musician

6. Colin Firth - actor

7. Wayne Rooney - footballer

8. Rory McIlroy - golfer

9. Caroline Lois Benoist - animal trainer

10. Howard Webb - football referee

If this has simply whet your appetite for Twitter trivia, check out @katebussmann's book, A Twitter Year. She takes a fascinating look at major (and minor) world events that unfolded on Twitter over the past 12 months.

How to host a Twitter Q&A session

2011-10-18T05:29:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, a handful of people here in the UK -- from Richard Branson to Foreign Secretary William Hague to Chloe Green from Made in Chelsea -- held live Q&A sessions on Twitter. During that time, 124 questions were asked of six participants and hashtags related to these Q&As were mentioned more than 8,000 times. Just like an in-person press conference or a round table discussion, these conversations provide a way for other users to ask questions and hear responses directly from the host. But, it all takes place on Twitter. And anyone can do it.

While there are no hard and fast rules for hosting a Q&A session on Twitter, here are some best practices to help you get started:

Pick a hashtag

The first step is easy - use a specific hashtag in your tweets to set them apart from your day-to-day output and provide context for your followers. Try to pick something short that speaks to the topic you would like to address or consider simply using #Ask.... For example, we used: #AskRichard #AskTeamGB #AskChloe #AskBusiness #AskEnergy and #AskFS.

Pick a time

The Q&A session should take place at a specific time so you can encourage people to “tune in” and follow along. The duration is up to you, but we’ve found that anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes works best.

Tweet about it

Tweet about your Q&A session a few days beforehand. This way you can start collecting questions in advance. Make sure you tweet about the Q&A on the day it's happening as well, to remind people when they should tune in. In your tweets, tell users what hashtag to use and guide them if there is a specific topic you’d like to focus on.

Get the word out

Email partners, employees, or influential friends to tell them about the Q&A session and encourage them to tweet about it (using the hashtag, of course). If you have a website or a blog, put the hashtag and a description of the session there too. The people visiting those sites are the ones who are likely most interested in asking questions and engaging.

Go time

As you sit down to begin answering questions, send a tweet so people know you’re getting started and if possible, add a picture.

You can follow the questions by doing a search for the hashtag you’ve chosen and by checking your mentions tab. You don’t have to answer every question. We suggest answering a dozen or so questions over the course of the session, depending on its length.

Once you’ve found a question you want to answer, retweet it. This way all of your followers will see it. Answer the question in a tweet. Instead of starting the tweet with an @reply, as those will only be seen by users who follow you and the user who the @reply is directed to, compose a new tweet and start it with a “.@name” or a word. Here are some examples:

TeamGB

BusinessLink

Richard Branson answering a question from Lord Alan Sugar

Chloe Green

When you’re all finished, tweet that the session is wrapped up.

Summarize the Q&A in a blog post

Once the Q&A session is over, consider drafting a blog post that shows the questions and answers. This way people who couldn’t participate on Twitter during the given time can still read through the content. Check out #AskRichard blog post as an example. You can also use Storify, which is a third party site that has a handy tool for embedding tweets.

No time like the present

The wonderful thing about hosting a Q&A session is that it's so easy, you don't need anything other than Twitter itself and a little bit of time. Go for it. And if you have any questions just ask us: #AskTwitterUK.

Experts at your fingertips

2011-10-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

Twitter is a great way to connect directly with experts across many different fields - whether it’s an entrepreneur like Richard Branson, an art expert from the Tate Museum, or the Foreign Secretary.

These interactions happen constantly on Twitter, but to make things even easier we asked a few people from the UK to spend time this week answering your questions.

Here’s a look at who we have lined up, so start tweeting your questions and be sure to tune in:

Tuesday, October 4th

12:00pm - Business Link (@businesslinkgov), the UK government’s online resource for business, will answer questions about starting and building a business. Tweet using the hashtag #AskBusiness.

3:30pm - Richard Branson (@richardbranson), founder of Virgin Group and a prominent British entrepreneur, will answer questions on entrepreneurship and finding inspiration for starting your own business. Tweet using the hashtag #AskRichard.

Wednesday, October 5th

4:00pm - The British Olympic Association representing the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic athletes (@Team_GB) will be answering questions about the lead up to the 2012 games here in London. Tweet using the hashtag #AskTeamGB.

Thursday, October 6th

11:30am - The Department of Energy and Climate will answer questions about rising energy prices and household energy bills. Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker will be responding from the @deccgovuk account. Tweet using the hashtag #AskEnergy.

12:00pm - Foreign Secretary William J. Hague (@WilliamJHague) will be answering questions about which key issues you think should be addressed by governments, business and civil society at the upcoming London Conference on Cyberspace (#LondonCyber). Tweet using the hashtag #AskFS.

1:00pm - Martha Lane Fox (@Marthalanefox), the co-founder of Lastminute.com, will answer questions about her role as the UK government's digital champion and the Race Online campaign, which aims to bring people in the UK online. Tweet using the hashtag #AskMartha. [UPDATE: This Q&A has been rescheduled for Thursday, October 13th at 3:30pm]

2:00pm - The Tate (@Tate), a family of international modern and contemporary art museums in London, will be hosting a #TateDebate. Tweet using the hashtag #TateDebate.

Friday, October 7th

1:00pm - Chloe Green (@ChloeGreen5) will answer questions about her new role on Made in Chelsea and the footwear collection she’s designing for Topshop. Tweet using the hashtag #AskChloe.

Gleeful

2011-09-22T01:31:00.000-07:00

People come to Twitter to connect with the latest information on the topics and people they care about. From the beginning, brands, businesses and charitable organisations have been an important part of the Twitter experience, providing people with special announcements, access to exclusive content, great offers and other useful information.

Just over a year ago, we introduced a suite of advertising products designed to help brands and businesses quickly and more easily reach people with this information on Twitter. Initially, these products -- Promoted Tweets, Promoted Trends and Promoted Accounts-- were available only to U.S. advertisers, and directed at Twitter’s global audience of more than 100 million active users.

Starting today, that changes. UK brands can now geo-target all of our Promoted Products, making it easier to reach local users with more geographically relevant content.

We’re happy to be working with Sky who is using this new functionality to help spread the word about the latest season of Glee, launching today in the UK. Other than being huge Gleeks ourselves, we’re excited they’re using our full suite of Promoted Products to increase awareness of and conversation around the show among people in the UK. Check out @gleeonsky, #gleeonsky, and look for their Promoted Tweets.

In addition to Sky, we look forward to working with a select set of launch partners this autumn, including BT, Electronic Arts, Eurostar and Paramount Pictures UK, to reach an active and vocal audience through Twitter. And, with a team in the UK officially on board, we can provide local support for a wider audience of brands who appreciate the simplicity of using Twitter to engage directly with users.

From the start, our philosophy around advertising has been simple: We put our users first and strive to create products that enrich the Twitter experience for every Twitter user. We’re excited about this next step and look forward to your feedback.

See it here first

2011-09-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

Twitter is about real-time communications and following the things you love - a combination that makes it a great place for brands to share exclusive content with a global, engaged audience. Earlier this year, Paramount released sneak preview tickets to the Super Eight movie for their followers on Twitter. Today, we're excited about what our friends over at Burberry have planned for their London Fashion Week show. If you're following the @burberry account at 4pm UK time, you'll be able to see every look from the brand's Spring/Summer 2012 collection, even before those in the front row. Christopher Bailey, Burberry's creative director, announced this on Twitter and talked about the power of Twitter to instantly share with people all over the world.

What else have you seen first on Twitter?

Go behind the scenes at London Fashion Week

2011-09-16T05:33:00.000-07:00

London Fashion Week starts today, which means models, designers, fashion industry insiders, and reporters are descending on the West End in their sky high heels and stylish attire. They are also tweeting from backstage, the front row and all the hottest parties. So if you missed out on tickets and can’t be there in person, or if you’re there and want to know what everyone’s talking about, be sure to follow the action in real-time through the #LFW hashtag on Twitter.

To make it a little easier, we’ve put together a list of people whose Tweets will help you feel so connected that you might forget you’re not actually there. Say hello to Tom Ford and Henry Holland for us if you see them!

The official London Fashion Week account, run by the British Fashion Council, is the ultimate source for #LFW info and they’ve created great fashion-focused lists as well. The team is also organising a series of Twitter Q&As, so be sure to tweet your questions to #AskLFW and follow @LondonFashionWk to hear from:

Caroline Rush, CEO of the British Fashion Council - Friday at 4pm
Laura Bailey, BFC Cultural Ambassador - Saturday at 11am
Poppy Delevingne, BFC Young Ambassador - Sunday (time TBC)
Lucy Yeoman's, Editor, Harper's Bazaar - Monday 3pm
Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large - Monday (time TBC)
Louise Gray, designer - Tuesday at 11am
Gordon Richardson, Topman - Wednesday at 2pm

Big name designers are showing at LFW this year and here are a few that can’t be missed:

Burberry @burberry (keep an eye out for Christopher Bailey who will be tweeting from this account during LFW)
Erdem @ErdemRTW
Henry Holland @henryholland
Jasper Conran @jasperconran
Louise Gray @LOUISEGRAYLONDO
Mary Katrantzou @marykatrantzou
Paul Smith @PaulSmithDesign
Vivienne Westwood @followWestwood

Never be late to a trend or miss an “it” bag again by following industry insiders like:

Alexa Chung @alexa_chung
Anna Dello Russo @annadellorusso
Daisy Lowe @daisylowe
Laura Bailey, BFC Cultural Ambassador @laurabailey77
Lulu Kennedy, founder of Fashion East @_lulukennedy
Susie Bubble, fashion blogger @susiebubble
Yasmin Sewell, fashion retail consultant @yasminsewell

Follow fashion journalists to get the scoop before their stories run:

LFW Daily, the official newspaper of LFW @thelfwdaily
The team at @vogue_london
Lorraine Candy @LorraineELLE and the team at @ELLEUK
The team at Glamour @GlamourMagUK
Freelance journalists Hilary Alexander @hilaryalexander
The Stylist team @StylistMagazine
Lucy Yeomans from Harper’s Bazaar @LucyBAZAAR
The Guardian fashion team @GuardianFashion
The Grazia team @Grazia_Live

And make sure you know when the newest fashion hits the stores (and goes on sale!) by following your favourite retailers, like:

Brown’s @BrownsFashion
Harrods @HarrodsofLondon
Harvey Nichols @Harvey_Nichols
Liberty’s @LibertyLondon
Matches @MatchesFashion
Mr Porter @MRPORTERLIVE
My-Wardrobe.com @mywardrobe
Net-a-Porter @NETAPORTER
Selfridge’s @selfridges
Topshop @topshop

Follow your interests close to home

2011-09-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

From chefs to designers, from museums to the Downing Street Cat, there are more than 100 million people around the world using Twitter to follow their interests and instantly share ideas and information. To kick off our UK blog, we want to highlight a few of our favourites here at home:

The best of British fashion is on Twitter and you can follow them throughout London Fashion Week, which starts on Friday. The British Fashion Council curated a list of their favourites, and the #LFW hashtag will be a great way to get up to the minute tweets and pics from the catwalk.

Footballers like @WayneRooney, @rioferdy5 (Rio Ferdinand),@JackWilshere, @Persie_Official (Robin van Persie) and @Joey7Barton.

Rugby players like @DannyCare, @JamesHaskell, @GarethThomas14 and @Ben_Foden.

More than 40% of British MPs are on Twitter as well, according to a list compiled by Tweetminster.

British museums and art galleries like @Tate, @BritishMuseum, @saatchi_gallery, @NationalGallery, @MuseumLiverpool and @V_and_A. Check out the list we've started with these accounts and more.

396 British Olympic hopefuls like sprinter @jodiealicia27 (Jodie Williams), show jumper @skeltonnick (Nick Skelton) and cyclist @MarkCavendish.

All of the UK police forces are on Twitter, including @metpoliceUK in London, @GMpolice in Manchester, @HantsPolice in Hampshire and @WMpolice in the West Midlands.

Local restaurants and shops, like these that we've stumbled across in London: @freebirdburrito (food truck), @vinoteca (wine shop), @taylor_st (coffee), @LaFromagerieUK (cheese shop) and @dauntbooks (bookstore).

And other recognisable personalities like @mayoroflondon, @AlanCarr, @jamieoliver, @EmWatson (Emma Watson), @andy_murray, @McIlroyRory and @cherylcole, who sent her first tweet on August 30th!

We started putting together lists that focus on different interest areas, but we have a long way to go! So please let us know who you love to follow, who makes you laugh, who inspires you, and who just can't be missed and we'll be sure to add them!