Stephen Fry talks about the joys of Twitter

This video shows MWorks favourite, Stephen Fry talking about the benefits of Twitter outside BBC TV Centre, presumably before / after he recorded his interview with Jonathan Ross last Thursday.

I've been following him on Twitter (and he follows me back 'cos he's a nice man, you see) + thoroughly enjoy his little anecdotes + twitpics. Some are saying that @stephenfry has single-handedly propelled the micro-blogging platform into the mainstream, which does feel like a slight exaggeration I have to say. But he's certainly inspired several other celebrities to follow suit, with @wossy (Jonathan Ross himself), @schofe (Philip Schofield!) + even @britneyspears signing up to share their every move with the rest of the world. Actually, thinking about it, the latter was more likely to have been inspired by @barackobama than Stephen Fry. But anyway, I also noticed the other day that all of this celebrity 'tweeting' has resulted in someone somewhere creating a special tool that connects celebrity lovers with their idols, but I can't find that right now, I'm sorry.

FYI - Over the last 12 months, usage of Twitter has increased by a whopping 974% + in the moment that I type, Stephen Fry has a total of 63,634 followers. Makes my 92 sound quite pathetic.

@kirstyshields

Worldwide Inauguration via Twitter

Flowing Data created this fantastic video to demonstrate the level of buzz surrounding Barack Obama's induguration on Twitter in the lead up, during and after the event which took place at midday on Tuesday 20th Jan.


Not only does this show how this historic event captured the attention of the entire world, but it illustrates the dramatic rise in popularity of the micro-blogging tool. Also, Obama's innovative use of social media in his election campaign + the fact that he himself has 144,000 Twitter followers would only have fuelled these conversations online. Good work. Shame he's not even allowed to send emails now he's President. Oops.

Thanks socialmedia.biz for posting this + for the blog title (which I stole from you!)

Twitter Power 150

Based on Todd Andrlik's Power 150 Ranking which featured the top English-language media and marketing blogs in the world, Armando Alves has had a go at creating the Twitter Power 150. How very topical and very handy.

Here's the top 10. See the full list here.

1. PR Squared @TDefren 253.26

2. Web Strategy by Jeremiah @jowyang 243.59

3. PR 2.0 @briansolis 238.85

4. Social Media Explorer @jasonfalls 231.66

5. Groundswell @charleneli 229.72

6. BlogWrite for CEOs @debbieweil 217.25

7. Micro Persuasion @steverubel 215.08

8. Strategic PR @prblog 215.06

9. Jaffe juice @jaffejuice 214.71

10. Online Marketing Blog @leeodden 214.24

The Guardian's Digital Content Blog Newsbucket

Some nice links - shamelessly stolen from guardian.co.uk

• Fake Steve Jobs unloads on real Steve Jobs >> Valleywag
• Social networking still top growth area in online marketing >> Mashable
• Five things Google could do for newspapers >> Wired
• iTunes Plus: Everything you need to know >> CNET
• The (almost) ABC of CES 2009 >> CNET
• The drawbacks of new technology >> BBC
• The BBC should make more effort to engage with Wikipedia >> BBC Common Platform
• Why the internet weakens the authority of the press >> PressThink
• Kara Swisher gets video scoop with Yahoo >> Beet.TV
• CES: Gambling on the gadgets of the future >> Guardian
• How long can Apple stay fresh once it loses its core? >> Guardian
• Video: CES 2009 - Mind Flex >> Guardian
• Video: CES 2009 - Game on! >> Guardian
• Video: CES 2009 - Leaving Las Vegas >> Guardian
• Celebrities on Twitter - plus a few MPs and porn stars >> Guardian
• Peter Mandelson ushers in a virtual New Labour revolution >> Guardian
• Microsoft betting big on 'Touch' >> WSJ
• Look out, Microsoft Surface - the iTable might just trump you >> CrunchGear
• Britney Spears is hiring an online media manager >> TechCrunch
• Warner Music adding social networking to websites >> Reuters