Los Angeles, C.A, USA: Remember that brilliant, choreographed treadmill promo?

Well the latest video from American rock band OK Go has also become a You Tube sensation with 6 Million views and rising…

The official video for the recorded version of “This Too Shall Pass”  was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA.

The “machine” was designed and built by the band, along with members of Syyn Labs  over the course of several months. Between 55-60 people worked on this, and they went through more than 60 takes before reaching the final product.

[Keeping tabs on the art of  promotion with this ’stunt of the day’ blog ….]

LONDON; 8th February 2009: UK streets battle it out to be crowned Britain’s Best Street in the Google Street View Awards.

Google have today announced the launch of the Google Street View Awards, a celebration of Britain’s best-loved streets as voted for by the public in a nationwide poll.

The awards, for Britain’s Most Picturesque Street, Best Foodie Street and Best Fashion Street, have been created in anticipation of further imagery being added to Google’s revolutionary Street View tool, which currently allows users to view and navigate 360 degree street-level imagery in 25 British towns, including many of those nominated for the Street View Awards. Later this year, Street View will be rolled out to cover additional streets from around the UK.

Shortlisted nominations for each of the award categories have been compiled by a panel of experts from the worlds of food, fashion and travel including VisitBritain, TV personalities Julia Bradbury (Countryfile), Jeff Banks (The Clothes Show) and Brix Smith Start (Gok’s Fashion Fix), leading journalists Jo Elvin (Editor, Glamour) and Nicholas Lander (Restaurant Correspondent, Financial Times) and authors David Else (Editor of The Lonely Planet Guide to Great Britain) and Richard Harden (Co-Editor, Harden’s Restaurant Guide). The experts were asked to nominate streets that fulfilled a pre-set criteria for each category. Their nominated streets highlight a series of British treasures ranging from famous tourist attractions such as London’s King’s Road, Royal Crescent in Bath and The Shambles in York to hidden avenues and courtyards such as Gold Hill in Shaftesbury and Pen Cei in Aberaeron, Wales.

Voting opens from today, and closes on Sunday 28th February. The winners will be announced in March. To vote, go to www.maps.google.co.uk/beststreets

Britain’s Best Foodie Street

The winning street should offer a unique mix of mouth-watering options which could include fine dining, cafés, market stalls and delicatessens, all covering a diverse mix of food types and price points.

1. Wilmslow Road, Manchester

2. Hope Street, Liverpool

3. South Embankment, Dartmouth

4. Whiteladies Road, Bristol

5. Charlotte Street, London

6. Stockbridge High Street, Hampshire

7. Call Lane, Leeds

8. Fossgate, York

9. High Street, Southwold, Suffolk

10. High Street, Cley next the Sea, Norfolk

11. Broad Street, Birmingham

12. Belgrave Road, Leicester

13. Byres Road, Glasgow

14. The Shore, Edinburgh

15. Osborne Road, Jesmond, Newcastle

16. Haven Hill, Craster

17. Cross Street, Abergavenny

18. High Street, Conwy

19. Botanic Avenue, Belfast

20. Howard Street, Belfast

Richard Harden, Co-Editor of Harden’s Restaurant Guides said: “It’s great to have an award that stresses the variety of attractions you can find on the foodie front, across the the UK. The nominations are so multi-various though, that the final verdict is certainly going to be a tricky one.”

 Britain’s Best Fashion Street

The winning street should offer an eclectic mix of boutique and high street, designer and high street for all clothing tastes and ages. The winning street should satisfy both bargain-hunters and label-lovers.

 1. Mathew Street, Liverpool

2. New Cathedral Street, Manchester

3. Milsom Street, Bath

4. Regent Street, Clifton Village, Bristol

5. Kings Road, London

6. Westbourne Grove, London

7. Stonegate, York

8. Briggate, Leeds

9. Rose Crescent, Cambridge

10. Gentleman’s Walk, Norwich

11. Corporation Street, Birmingham

12. Bridlesmith Gate, Nottingham

13. Ruthven Lane, Glasgow

14. Buchanan Street, Glasgow

15. Northumberland Street, Newcastle

16. High Bridge Street, Newcastle

17. Queen’s Street, Cardiff

18. St Mary’s Street, Cardiff

19. Victoria Street, Belfast

20. Lisburn Road, Belfast

Fashion designer Jeff Banks commented: “The final shortlist for Britain’s Best Fashion Street is a testament to the strength and diversity of the UK’s high streets. From the exclusive stores across London to the hip independent boutiques in Bristol’s Clifton Village Britain boasts an outstanding range of shops to suit all tastes and budgets.”

Britain’s Most Picturesque Street

The winning street should be uniquely British and visually charming. It could be vibrant, full of character, diverse, walker-friendly or architecturally interesting.

1. Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, Dorset

2. Royal Crescent, Bath

3. Chipping Campden High Street, Gloucestershire

4. Brunswick Square, Brighton and Hove

5. The Shambles, York

6. Grey Street, Newcastle

7. Pen Cei, Aberaeron

8. Main Street, Tobermory, Isle of Mull

9. New College Lane, Oxford

10. Broad Street, Ludlow

David Else, Lead Author of The Lonely Planet Guide to Great Britain, said: “As the lead author of the Lonely Planet Guide to Great Britain, I’ve travelled the length and breadth of the country, and seen many of these streets firsthand. The final shortlist reflects the wonderful variety of architecture in Britain, and I hope people have as much fun voting for their favourites as I had visiting them.”

The winning three streets will be crowned “Britain’s Best Street 2010” in each relevant category. Google will work with the winning streets to create a bespoke Google Street View tour, created to highlight the key retailers and points of interest, allowing the world to find out more about the nation’s final choices.

Competition is expected to be fierce as streets from all over Britain battle it out for the coveted awards. Is London’s Kings Road the undisputed home of fashion or will it be upstaged by Manchester’s trendy New Cathedral Street? Will Leeds’ food emporium, Call Lane, be crowned the most mouth-watering, with its diverse range of eateries, or will the nation’s love of curry challenge it with Birmingham’s Broad Street?

Sandie Dawe, Chief Executive, VisitBritain said: “We are really pleased to be involved in this exciting project which will honour streets across the UK and help raise the profile of Britain internationally in an innovative way. The campaign received high levels of participation from overseas which raises the level of engagement with Britain.”

Ed Parsons, Geospatial Technologist for Google said: “We want to celebrate the beauty and culture of Britain and are really excited about the first ever Google Street View Awards. The awards will showcase some of Britain’s Best Streets across the UK and we hope people will get involved and vote online for their favourite.”

LONDON: Thursday 3rd December 2009: MySpace has today announced the UK launch of MySpace Music, a new platform offering users free access to the most comprehensive catalogue of audio tracks and music videos available on the web.

The new service will provide music fans with unlimited free streaming and unlimited free playlisting. It will enable users to download, stream and personalise their music content, creating and sharing their playlists using the MyMusic system. MySpace Music users will also now be able to purchase DRM-free songs on Apple iTunes, playable on all digital music devices. For a seamless listening experience, music fans can also listen to their playlists on a personal online music player while browsing MySpace or other websites.

A host of leading UK and international acts there are supporting MySpace Music. The launch kicked off with an intimate concert last night from one of UK’s biggest live acts, Kasabian.

50 Cent, Pixie Lott (picture above), Florence & the Machine, Alicia Keys, Chipmunk, David Guetta, Lost Prophets, and Nelly Furtado are among a number of high-profile acts who are taking part in the launch in a series of interactive films that can be personalized by users, and personal playlists that allow fans to get closer than ever before to the artists they love.

The new service premieres with exclusive personal playlists from a wide cross section of famous music fans ranging from Katie Price to The Vatican. The Vatican’s playlist features artists as diverse as Muse, Mozart, Dame Shirley Bassey and Tupac. Katie Price’s playlist, which she plays when “getting ready for a night out” features tracks including Kanye West’s’ ‘Heartless’ and Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’.

Artists are also set to benefit from the launch via the MySpace Artist Dashboard – a free tool which allows all artists unlimited access to unique in depth demographic, social and activity data of their core fans.

MySpace has also announced that it has agreed an online music licence with PRS for Music, which represents 65,000 of the UK’s songwriters, composers and music publishers. The agreement allows PRS for Music songwriters and composers featured on MySpace to receive royalties for their work, demonstrating the ongoing commitment of both companies to nurture creative music talent in the UK.

MySpace Music UK will also support artists represented by Merlin, The Orchard, IODA, Nettwerk Music Group, INgrooves, IRIS Distribution, Big Fish Media, RoyaltyShare, Curb and Merge.

MySpace Music functionality includes:

• The new MyMusic personal music management system
• Free and unlimited ad-supported, full-length audio and music video streaming
• Fully licensed content catalogue and artist discographies from majors and indie partners
• Free and unlimited playlist functionality organized in a user friendly ‘drag and drop’ way
• Exclusive audio, video, and playlist content from top UK artists and icons
• DRM-free downloads via iTunes
• Free artist access to the MySpace Music Dashboard – a unique and free analytics tool which allows artists to have a much greater insight into what their fans are doing.
• Charts – a front door to the most popular artists, songs, albums and videos on MySpace Music from all artists globally

 “We’re excited to be launching MySpace Music in the UK, a genuinely innovative service that brings artists and fans closer than ever before” says Courtney Holt, MySpace Music President “MySpace has always had an unrivalled reputation for encouraging the enjoyment, discovery and sharing of music, and this launch concentrates and expands on that distinctive character. The way people are consuming music has changed dramatically, and we’re aiming to develop a next-generation platform that builds a sustainable business for MySpace Music, content licensors and artists, while serving fans in a completely unique way.”

Press Contact: Kate.arrowsmith@taylorherring.com

LONDON, Friday 16th October 200; LIVING is transforming the world of entertainment with the launch of Liv- the UK’s first online TV channel delivering free, exclusively commissioned and acquired short-form content everyday on the web.

Liv will truly bring linear TV into the online space in a way that goes beyond anything currently available. Liv will be accessed through leading websites and social media platforms from all corners of the web through a host of strategic syndication partnerships that will extend the LIVING brand fully outside of the digital TV space for the first time.

Liv will launch with a brand new twice daily celebrity news show commissioned from production company Rockabox. The show, Liv for gossip, will bring viewers the hottest celebrity news first in the UK thanks to a ground-breaking content deal with Big Pictures which gives the channel a 12 hour exclusive window for their global video footage from LA, to Sydney, New York to London. At launch Liv will have two other main content pillars including style and beauty content and LIVING programme extensions. Further content pillars are currently in development.

The Liv web takeover kicks off at launch on 23rd October initially on www.livingtv.co.uk and via media partner IPC. IPC’s magazine portfolio, which dominates UK newsstands with 29.4% of the market, will host the channel online, ensuring that Liv becomes an online entertainment destination from day one. Viewers will also be able to access Liv from its dedicated YouTube channel as well as downloading it via a Facebook application which allows users to share and interact with Liv content. Liv is looking at developing its syndication partners further and is in talks with a range of publishing companies and social media partners.

Liv will also provide a vast array of opportunities for advertisers from simple banner ads through to promotions and ad-funded shows. Future opportunities for brand extensions and ad funded content are currently being explored by the channel team.

Each channel within Liv will only screen bespoke content created solely for the channel; no recycling and no reruns, under four themes:

• Celebs – Liv will be the new home for celebrity gossip online with every angle of celebrity covered. Get the inside track from celebs talking about other celebs to the twice daily show bringing the latest exclusive video footage from around the world.
• Style – gives viewers unique access to all things style and beauty related. Includes specifically commissioned shows the first of which, Dress famous Liv famous, sees one of Britain’s Next Top Model’s most popular contestants Jade McSorley giving celebrity style makeovers to members of the public.
• Bite Me – brings exclusive previews and extensions of LIVING shows to the small screen with channel favourites including Four Weddings and Dating in the Dark.
• Popular – for those with no time to browse, this pillar will create a playlist, pulling together the top rating videos of the week from Liv.

Liv has been created by LIVING’s in-house team and will operate under the leadership of Amy Barham. The team also includes new appointments Rebecca Suter as Content Editor and Alex Ayling as Commissioning Executive.

Amy Barham, Channel Editor, LIV said: “Liv is a true innovation in broadcasting, it is not simply moving LIVING online or an extension of Livingtv.co.uk, it is a complete channel in its own right that gives viewers short form bursts of entertainment that they cannot get anywhere else. The move from linear to digital is one that broadcasters are struggling to come to terms with, but we have created a smart solution to the revenues challenges we are all facing. With Liv we have a very clear, strong editorial direction which is single-mindedly focused on our viewers and what they want to see.”

Virgin Media Television’s Director of Television Claudia Rosencrantz commented: “LIVING is one of the UK’s most recognised and powerful TV brands but we believe it has the potential to go beyond this and be a leading entertainment brand on every screen. Liv is the first step in taking the brand beyond TV and I am extremely excited about the creative and commercial opportunities that Liv presents.”

Taylor Herring PR: 0208 206 5151

World Cup Qualifier Is Britain’s Biggest Ever Pay-to-View Internet Sports Broadcast

LONDON, Monday 12th October: Close to half a million football fans watched and earned their place in the history books, as last night’s FIFA World Cup qualifier became Britain’s biggest internet pay-to-view sports broadcast.

There were no technical issues and all customer enquiries were responded to within five minutes. A post match survey found that an average of 87% felt the picture quality was satisfactory or better and 93% were satisfied with the customer support. In a positive sign for future events, 87% said the match offered value for money and 89% would purchase another live sports event online.

In addition to the live stream, international football agency Kentaro struck an 11th hour highlights deal with the BBC, who screened the best moments of the match to viewers after the live internet game had been broadcast.

Odeon cinemas across the country also screened the game via satellite and many were completely sold out. Despite the match not being made available for public or commercial viewing purposes, it is believed pubs up and down the country streamed the match successfully via projectors and by linking computers to TV screens.

Earlier in the week, a special arrangement was made by Kentaro to screen the game to British Armed forces overseas for free. As many troops do not have internet access the game was broadcast into military bases via BFBS Television.

Philipp Grothe, CEO of Kentaro said; “This pioneering broadcast has been a great success. Not only have we delivered Britain’s largest ever live pay-to-view internet sports audience but commercially the venture has proved itself as a viable model for future games. Technology has ignited a revolution in people’s viewing habits and there is a new sports broadcast platform developing on the broadband enabled internet.”

Andrew Croker, Executive Chairman of Perform said: “This was an extremely successful and groundbreaking project. An innovative marketing approach particularly with national newspapers, betting and ISP affiliates meant that we were able to get this out to a broad audience and make it a huge success. Additionally, from a customer service, production and distribution point of view, we felt it went very smoothly.”

Peter Silverstone, Managing Director of Kentaro UK said; “We are indebted to our partner Perform, who have pulled off a technical coup in a few short weeks. Our newspaper, ISP and betting partners have been instrumental in making this venture the success that is. We have been encouraged by the level of debate this has stimulated amongst the sports industry.”

Fans watched the landmark match by registering at www.ukraineVengland.com. Subscriptions were available at an early-bird price of £4.99 rising to a maximum rate of £11.99 for purchases made on the day.

James Richardson presented the live coverage, alongside ex England manager and Notts County Director of Football Sven Goran Eriksson. Commentary came from David Pleat and Tony Jones.

A number of leading national newspapers and internet service providers also made the match available on their own websites. Partners included; The Sun, The Times, News of the World, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Express, The Daily Star, The Independent, Virgin Media and Orange. All websites offered a promotion where the user could watch the match for free if they opened an account with bet365.com, a leading online bookmaker.

The international football agency Kentaro, acquired the broadcast rights from the Ukrainian FA and had sold the game to Setanta in December 2007. However the pay-TV broadcaster went into administration over the summer leaving this key match without a UK broadcaster. With no offers on the table from UK free to air or pay-TV broadcasters Kentaro decided to seek the widest possible online audience, appointing digital sport specialist Perform, to market and stream the match online, on a pay-per-view basis.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to its commercial sensitivity and value no further information or data will be released.

ENDS

Sven-Göran Eriksson and representatives from international football agency Kentaro will attend a press conference at 9.30am Monday 5th October at Soho Hotel (London) to reveal ground-breaking broadcast plans for Saturday’s England Vs Ukraine FIFA World Cup clash. Soho Hotel, 4 Richmond Mews, London W1.

RSVP cheryl.goddard@taylorherring.com, 0208 206 5151

LONDON: Sunday 6th September 2009. Following the collapse of Setanta UK earlier this year, plans are now being made to broadcast the Ukraine Vs England Fifa World Cup 2010 qualifying game, exclusively live on the internet.

International football agency Kentaro had sold the broadcast rights of the fixture to the Pay TV operator in December 2007. However Setanta went into administration on June 23rd this year leaving the key match without a UK broadcaster.

The Kiev clash scheduled for Saturday 10th October could decide England’s qualification for the tournament and marks one of the toughest competitive matches that the national team will have faced to date. England have won all seven of the qualifying games in this world cup campaign – the best ever performance by The Three Lions, scoring 26 goals and conceding just 4 under Coach Fabio Capello.

Philipp Grothe, CEO of the Kentaro Group said; “We have spoken to every traditional UK broadcaster and currently have no offer on the table. We therefore feel the internet delivers the most viable option to deliver an important England game directly to the fans. It will be the first time in history that an England game has had an exclusive web broadcast.”

Kentaro have now instructed digital sport specialist Perform, to market and stream the match online, on a pay-per-view basis.

Andrew Croker, Executive Chairman of Perform said; “We have pioneered sports coverage on the internet for the last ten years and currently have 20 million football fans using our online services every month. We’re very excited about working with Kentaro to deliver this landmark event.”

Perform is a leading digital sport business who currently stream over 15,000 live events each year across the internet and provide web, mobile or online video services to 13 official Barclays Premier League and 67 official Coca-Cola Football League club websites.

In November and December 2008, Perform stepped in when traditional TV deals did not materialise for UEFA Cup away matches featuring Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, streaming them live on a pay-per-view basis through www.mcfc.co.uk and www.tottenhamhotspur.com.

Notes To Editors

The broadcasting rights to the game were sold to Kentaro by the Ukraine Football Association. The English Football Association has no say over who secures broadcasting rights to away fixtures.

Kentaro: Specialising in the global marketing of national soccer federations, leagues and clubs, Kentaro´s core business is the international acquisition and distribution of premium broadcast rights. Kentaro markets the TV rights for over 250 matches in the build-up to the FIFA World Cup 2010, including 90% of the South American qualifiers. More than 20 federations rely on Kentaro’s unique network and management skills, as do countless top club sides such as Arsenal FC, Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC. Headquartered in Switzerland with branch offices in London, Hamburg, Stockholm and most recently Chicago, the world’s fastest-growing sports rights agency also exclusively organizes all exhibition matches of the Brazil national team.

Perform: Perform is a world leader in delivering sports content in digital media. The company works with sports rights holders, publishers, bookmakers and media groups and has developed over 230 web, video broadband and mobile sites that serve over 20 million unique users. Streaming 15,000 live events per year across partner sites, Perform also works with every major UK publisher group including News International, Trinity Mirror Group, Daily Mail Media Group, Telegraph Media Group and Guardian News and Media Ltd to provide extensive sports video highlights online through the e-Player, reaching over 10 million unique viewers every month. Football clients include Chelsea FC (who recently won the SportsBusiness Ultimate Sports Website Award), the Premier League, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham, Fulham, Rangers and through Football League Interactive, Perform provide the platform for over 80 clubs. Headquartered in Middlesex London, Perform employs 310 staff and has offices in central London, Holland, Italy, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India and the USA.

www.performgroup.com

Taylor Herring PR have been hired to promote Comparedownload.com, a revolutionary new music portal that offers fans a totally new way of enjoying and buying music.

With the contentious issues of copyright theft and illegal downloading rarely out of the news, the music industry has long been searching for ways to stem the decline of legal album sales. The site enables music fans to compare prices for downloads instantly across a wide range of leading download services, then click through and buy at the price that suits them best.

Comparedownload.com has brokered deals with all the key online retailers including iTunes UK, Amazon UK, 7 Digital, Play.com, Tesco Digital and We7, meaning users will be able to search their combined catalogue of over 10 million tracks in a matter of seconds (with around 1,000 new tracks added every day).

Comparedownload.com is the key to unlocking the world’s biggest and best music collection – and users will know that by using the site to find the music they love, the money they spend will go back to the artists and record companies responsible for this music, a fact certain to appeal to true music fans.

Taylor Herring PR: 0208 206 5151

Michael Jackson – an internet story

Following last night’s Michael Jackson memorial, stories continue to emerge about the King of Pop’s tangled financial situation, but those managing his estate will surely take some comfort in the astonishing surge in download sales of his back catalogue:

Prior to his death download sales were averaging fewer than 50,000 a week. This has since shot up to a remarkable 2.6m in the last week alone. Combined with the fact that the story was broken by a gossip website, news that Google itself buckled under the weight of the surge of Jackson searches on the day of his death, and the undoubted impact of Twitter as an emerging news service, all add up to put an interesting digital spin on the whole story.

The video below shows how the news of death spread across Twitter on the day he died, with the words representing trending topics on the site:

Popjustice blogger is ‘most influential’ in the world of music

The Hospital Club have just announced the results of their annual rundown of the most powerful movers and shakers in the creative and media industries, with Peter Robinson, creator of Popjustice.com, taking the title of ‘most influential – emerging’ in the Music category. We’ve known Peter for a while now, and are slightly surprised to hear him described ‘emerging’, as the site has been recognised as a powerful voice in the world of pop music for years.

Anyway, congratulations Peter! In honour of his receiving this recognition, here’s our favourite Popjustice interview ever:

Popjustice vs Kelly Clarkson

Julian Perretta’s 3D webcam video

Widely tipped as one of 2009’s hottest new musical talents, Julian Perretta (signed to Columbia Records) this week played an intimate performance to lucky competition winners and industry insiders, and unveiled tracks from his upcoming debut album. We’re very excited indeed about the album, and look forward to working with Julian over the next few months, but the purpose of this story is to highlight the fantastic interactive 3D video available on his website – fans with webcams can insert their own faces into the video for the song:

Click here for the 3D video

10 Twitter Facts

Some interesting stats about Twitter, taken from research by a social media analytics provider named Sysomos:

1. 21% (One Fifth) of Twitter accounts are empty placeholders. These are the percentage of Twitter accounts that have never posted a single tweet. They may either be registered simply to hold a username for later use, or be experimental accounts started up but never used.

2. Nearly 94% of all Twitter accounts have fewer than 100 followers. In a finding perhaps consistent with the newness of the tool as well as the fact that many people may currently have an account simply to start experimenting with the tool, the vast majority of Twitter users have an extremely low followership.

3. March and April of 2009 were the tipping point for Twitter. During these months, Ashton Kutcher launched his quest to get to 1 million followers faster than CNN, Oprah started using Twitter, and the steady flow of new users to the site continued. For many, it offered a safer and easier way to get their feet wet with social media, 140 characters at a time.

4. 150 followers is the magic number. In a particularly interesting data point from the survey, Sysomos found that Twitter users tended to “follow back” all their followers up until about 150 connections. Then the reciprocation rate fell off dramatically, which seems to indicate that this number may be the crossover point where people shift from using Twitter for more personal use to using it more for “lifecasting” their thoughts and actions to a community of people who they feel varying levels of connection to.

5. A small minority creates most of the activity. A steep curve of a small minority of actively engaged content creators generating most of the activity on a site is common among social networks, but it is steeper and more pronounced on Twitter. 5% of users account for 75% of all activity, and 10% of users account for 86%. This seems to suggest that the site has managed to engage a mass audience beyond those who typically engage with social media.

6. Half of all Twitter users are not “active”. If you take a general description of being “active” on Twitter to mean that you have posted a tweet at some point in the last 7 days (1 week), then the survey learned that 50.4% of all Twitter users fit this category. If you remove the 21% from point #1, this leaves about 30% of users who have an account and have tweeted before, but happen to be inactive now.

7. Tuesday is the most active Twitter day. One of the most useful data points from the report is that it clears up the common question of which day of the week is the best day to tweet something. The research found that Tuesday stood out as the most popular day for tweets and retweets, followed by Wednesday and then Friday.

8. APIs have been the key to Twitter’s growth & utility. In terms of tools that people are using for Twitter, more than half (55%) of all Twitter users use something other than Twitter.com to tweet, search and connect with others. This may, in part, be due to Twitter’s notorious reputation of failing/crashing, but also is a credit to all the third party applications that have been built on top of Twitter and do their fair share to bring new users to the service.

9. English still dominates Twitter. Twitter is, extremely English-friendly. As the report found, the top four countries on Twitter are all English speaking (US, UK, Canada, Australia). Of these, US makes up 62% of all Twitter users, followed by UK with nearly 8% and Canada and Australia with 5.7% and 2.8% respectively. The largest non-English speaking country on Twitter? Brazil with 2%.

10. Twitter is being led by the social media geeks. This particular finding should likely come as no surprise, but 15% of Twitter users who follow more than 2000 people identify themselves as social media marketers. These individuals are more likely to post updates every day (sometimes more than once per day) and also use Twitter more actively for direct communication.

The full report is here (thanks to http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/)

matt.park@taylorherring.com

This week’s Twitter story – how not to do it…

Habitat have apologised for a not-very-subtle attempt to hijack Twitter buzz over the Iranian election to draw attention to their own brand. Predictably the Twitter community reacted extremely negatively to such activity, and Habitat have now deleted the offending messages. Even so the damage inflicted on the Habitat brand by this clumsy attempt at social media infiltration may continue to grow as the story and negative feedback spreads across the web.

Click here for more information.

Google Wave

Google’s new real-time communication platform will be launching later this year, and this is one that we’re getting seriously excited about here. In brief it will bring together email, instant messaging, UGC wikis, social networking, live chat, and multi-person project management. What this means is that the user will be able to bring a community of colleagues or friends together on one platform, which can be embedded on any blog or website, then share information and data in real time.

Online Trends Google Wave

Click here for more information.

Cannes Cyber Lions 2009

Some fine examples of viral video marketing – with the following eight clips nominated for awards at the 2009 Cannes Cyber Lions:

Which is your favourite? Our vote is for the hilarious Diesel clip…

Day In The Cloud

One more Google story for today… Google are now offering the opportunity for some interesting creative competitions, using their Google Docs system. A good example is their current ‘Day In The Cloud’ promotion with Virgin Atlantic, which sends the player on an online scavenger hunt which can be played both online AND on any Virgin Atlantic flight, with a year’s free flights for the winner.

Click here for more information.

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Contact – matt.park@taylorherring.com

Or follow us on Twitter – www.twitter.com/force10pr