One of the bigger catalysts behind the huge boom in social media growth over the past few years has been the way that celebrities from all around the world (in a myriad of shapes and sizes) have embraced these platforms, using them as a way to keep fans informed of their current projects and news.

Rewind back just a couple of years and Twitter was dominated by people like Stephen Fry and Wil Wheaton, who boasted a heady 208,750 and 109,406 followers respectively in February 2009. These guys were famous, sure, but it was very much in a nerdy, geek crowd kind of way (they’d be the first to admit that they’re geeks themselves). As Twitter started to penetrate the mainstream media and public consciousness, more famous (and less geeky) names from movies, TV and music began to sign up, and now the biggest superstars on the planet can be found avidly tweeting away.

But not every celebrity has expressed an interest. Often it’s for legitimate reasons. But other times, and certainly in Scarlett Johansson’s case, it’s simply good, old-fashioned naivety.

Read more

Some people seem to think that the more followers they have on Twitter, the more successful they are online. However, the number of followers you have doesn’t usually matter as much as the quality of followers you have, especially if you use Twitter for business.

Here are three tips you can use to revamp your Twitter bio – that tiny 160-character blurb that can be the difference between followers who ignore you and those who click every link you send their way.
Read more

There are so many lessons in what to do – and in this case, what not to do – in social media that case studies can begin to blend into one another. But this particular Twitter fumble from Durex stands out as one so supremely tone deaf, offensive and insensitive that it just has to be pointed out.
Read more

It appears the feverish need to sell, sell, sell on Black Friday has reached even the President of the United States: Barack Obama’s official Twitter account took to hawking official election 2012 wares on the biggest shopping day of the year.
Read more

It can’t be easy being a construction company trying to harness social media. They don’t have a simple or accessible product to sell. Instead, they’ve got to find a way to be social with a service that is pretty intangible.

Pauley Creative took a look at how the top 15 construction companies in the UK are using Twitter and other social media to get their message across, with some mixed findings.
Read more

Last month, more than 2 million tweets were posted every day on Twitter in Arabic, up from about 30,000 per day in July 2010, says a new study.

Semiocast analyzed 5.6 billion public tweets and discovered that while English was far and away the most popular language used on Twitter, making up some 39 percent of all tweets, or 70 million per day, Arabic was the fastest-growing language overall, rising over two thousand percent in the past year, and is now the eighth most-used language on the network.

Read more

R&B megastar Rihanna (@rihanna) has become the latest Twitter user to reach 10 million followers, passing the total on Saturday.

Rihanna joins Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, President Barack Obama, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, Britney Spears and Shakira as the eighth human, sixth woman and fifth female musical artist to become a member of Twitter’s 10 million club.

Read more

Need a little weekend reading? We’ve compiled our top ten Twitter stories of the week, which includes how to get more clicks and retweets on Twitter, Twitter power user tips, a fantastic guide to online marketing and how to use Twitter’s trending topics to get more followers.

Read more

Thanksgiving Day has just come and gone, but I hope that you saved a very special thank you for the internet, particularly if you’re a marketer or do any kind of branding online.

After all, where would the modern marketer be without social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook? Or email marketing? Not to mention pay per click (PPC), SEO and all that lovely, lovely analytics.

Yes, there’s a lot to be grateful for if you’re using the internet to promote your business, not least this fantastic infographic from Unbounce, entitled The Noob Guide To Online Marketing.

Read more

This is part two of our feature on using HootSuite to get more out of Twitter. Since you learned the basics of HootSuite in part one, we’ll use this guide to tell you how to schedule your tweets throughout the day, manage multiple Twitter (and Facebook, and LinkedIn) accounts, and monitor keywords. Get ready to experience a whole new Twitter.

Read more