The Royal Wedding – a social media affair?
It was reported yesterday that tweets will be banned during Prince William and Kate Middleton’s Royal Wedding ceremony today. That’s right it was alleged signal-blocking technology would be installed at Westminster Abbey, preventing social media leaks by those privy to be up close and personal with the pair. The fears were reportedly about the possibilities of photos, tweets or any sort of exposure reaching the world and news media before the Royal’s official release.
However, Scotland Yard and the Metropolitan Police have denied these twitter-banning claims. Which is a good thing given the entire wedding is being streamed live on YouTube, so us common folk outside the Abbey or in living rooms around the globe will not miss a beat (or tweet, as we’d be out of the signal-blocking technology!).
It’s not news that social media trumps official news casts in speed. Think back to the Queensland floods coverage or the Logies leaks (in 2011, the Logies banned Twitter). With everyone armed with a Smartphone being capable of being a social-journalist, reporting via social media is very real and very now. It’s simply part of the changing ways we communicate.
Within hours, social media channels will be running wild with Royal Wedding banter. Will you be watching the wedding on TV, or will you be online keep tabs on YouTube, while checking Twitter and Facebook? If you’re all for the latter, we recommend reading Mashable’s How to Follow the Royal Wedding Online article.
Yours in royal wedding excitement,
Julia
