• This Week on Twitter: 14 January

    Monday, January 14, 2013

    On most Mondays, this series alerts you to key things happening on Twitter in the coming week. A live chat with the cast of your favorite TV show, a Q&A with a candidate or author, a pro sports team Tweepstakes — this is the way to keep current on the can’t-mss moments on Twitter for the week ahead. - Ed.

    Monday, Jan. 14; 10 p.m. ET 
    Hawaii Five-O (@hawaiifive0cbs) is the first-ever show to allow fans to choose its ending in real-time. As the drama unfolds on screen, viewers can vote for the show’s culprit by tweeting the suspects: #TheTA, #TheStudent, or #TheBoss. Behind the scenes, the Hawaii Five-O production team will be tallying the votes, putting the post popular selection on air to end the show. More information on tonight’s episode can be found on last week’s Twitter Blog post.
    Monday, Jan. 14 
    International tennis superstar Maria Sharapova @mariasharapova joined Twitter today. Fans can tweet her at @mariasharapova or follow along with her Twitter stream here.

    Wednesday, Jan. 16
    @TwitterMovies is hanging with Josh Duhamel (@JoshDuhamel) and Nicholas Sparks (@Sparks_Nicholas) this Wednesday and may have time for a pop-up "Safe Haven" Q&A. Do you have questions for Josh or Nicholas? Tweet it to @TwitterMovies using the hashtag #SafeHaven.


    Twitter is the best way for fans to maximize their TV-watching experience, and this week, they can tweet or follow along with shows’ anticipated season premieres, including:

    Wednesday, Jan. 16 - Thursday, Jan. 17; 8 p.m. ET 
    American Idol (@Americanidol) #AmericanIdol


    Friday, Jan. 18; 10:00 p.m. ET 
    Best Week Ever (@BestWeekEver) #BestWeekEver

    Check back next week for more!

    Posted by Rachael Horwitz (@rachaelrad)
    Communications

    Posted by @ at 6:00 AM

  • A look back at Hollywood's golden night

    Sunday, January 13, 2013

    Full of laughs, tears, and surprises, tonight’s Golden Globe awards show (and red carpet) rang up over 3.6 million Tweets, bringing the grand total of Globes-related Tweets over the past 24 hours up to 4.2 million.

    During the show, viewers at home tweeted along with all of the night’s most exciting, entertaining, and emotional moments. The moments that drove the biggest Twitter conversation of the night were:
    -Jennifer Lawrence winning Best Actress in a comedy or musical: 19,886 TPM
    -Anne Hathaway winning Best Supporting Actress in a comedy or musical: 19,695 TPM
    -President Bill Clinton introduces ‘Lincoln’: 18,290 TPM

    Nominees and attendees started their tweeting early, giving all their followers a personal glimpse into what it takes to get ready for one of the year’s biggest red carpets:
    The stars continued to tweet (those tiny clutches must have just enough room for a cell phone!), offering fans at home a virtual seat at their table. As the winners were announced, tweets from attendees, as well as celebs watching from home, showed an intimate glimpse of what it’s like to see your fellow nominees, co-stars, or favorite stars, take the stage to accept a Golden Globe:

    Everyone watching along, whether at home or in the audience, also weighed in on hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Based on the outpouring of complimentary Tweets, it looks like they were two of the night’s big winners too.

    With many more awards shows paving the way until the Oscars, we can’t wait to see what keeps everyone else buzzing throughout awards season!

    Posted by Grace Chu Lee (@gracelee)
    TV Partnerships

    Posted by @ at 9:45 PM

  • Hawaii Five-0 lets viewers decide whodunit

    Friday, January 11, 2013

    Have you ever wished that you had the chance to direct an episode of your favorite show? Do you think you’d make a great detective? Next week CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 (@HawaiiFive0CBS) is letting the viewers sit in the director chair and put on their detective hat.

    Fans of Hawaii Five-0 will be able to choose the ending of the show in real-time on Monday evening. The #H50 team will spend the episode investigating the mysterious death of a professor, with the TA, the student, and the boss all prime suspects. As the drama unfolds on screen, viewers will see a prompt to vote for the culprit by tweeting #theTA, #TheStudent or #TheBoss. Behind the scenes, the Hawaii Five-0 production team will be tallying the votes immediately, and will put the most popular selection on air to end the show.
    The episode airs from 10-11pm ET & PT on Monday (Jan 14), with separate voting for the east and west coast. That means that each half of the country may see entirely different endings, based on what’s being most tweeted during the local broadcast. (CBS will make all 3 versions available online following the show.) This marks the first time a primetime drama has put the outcome of a scripted show into the fan’s hands via Twitter.

    Posted by Grace Chu Lee (@gracelee)
    TV Partnerships

    Posted by @ at 10:02 AM

  • Stars live-tweeting the Golden Globes

    Thursday, January 10, 2013

    The brightest stars in Hollywood will flock to the Beverly Hills Hilton for the Golden Globes Awards (@goldenglobes) this Sunday, Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT. And while fans will be watching on their TVs from countries around the world, they can get even closer to the show and feel like they’re part of the action (and the after parties) by tuning in on Twitter.

    Actors, directors, style icons and other VIPs will be live-tweeting to share inside experiences from on the red carpet, in the audience, backstage, and sometimes watching along on their couch. With the dinner party setting of the Golden Globes, the awards show is known for providing fans a unique glimpse of TV and film’s most talented stars. Following along on Twitter is like having a seat at the table, being a part of the conversation with your favorite celebrities.

    The Golden Globes live-tweeters include:

    Julia Louis-Dreyfus @OfficialJLD - Nominee for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series
    David Spade - @DavidSpade
    Sofia Vergara - @SofiaVergara  - Nominee for Modern Family
    Hayden Panettiere - @haydenpanettier - Nominee for Nashville
    Megan Hilty - @meganhilty - Star of nominee Smash
    Audrina Patridge - @AudrinaPatridge
    Nina Garcia - @NinaGarcia
    Omar Epps -  @omarepps
    Camila Alves - @iamcamilaalves
    Marlon Wayons - @MARLONLWAYANS
    Retta - @unfoRETTAble
    Todd Barry - @ToddBarry
    Krista Smith - @KristaSmith
    Ra Ra Riot - @rarariot
    Christos Decades @ChristosDecades
    George Kotsiopoulos - @GeorgeKotsi
    Maria Menounos - @mariamenounos
    Tyler James Williams - @TylerJamesWill
    Shanola Hampton - @ShanolaHampton
    Katee Sackhoff -  @kateesackhoff

    Whether you’re tuning in for the fashion, results, acceptance speeches or witty banter, you can engage or just follow along with your favorite nominees and fellow fans using the hashtag #goldenglobes and #globesparty, or check out the special page we built that features the live-tweeters all in one place.








    Posted by
    Fred Graver (@fredgraver), Head of TV
    and
    Kate Bowen (@kateb), TV Talent Relations


    Posted by @ at 5:00 AM

  • Cosmo’s Twitter chat with Julianne Hough

    Tuesday, January 08, 2013

    As more and more musicians, actors and athletes — everyone from Kobe Bryant to Megan Fox — join Twitter, fans can engage and chat directly with their favorite stars. Today, for instance, @Cosmopolitan Magazine is offering you the chance to have February cover girl and “Safe Haven” star Julianne Hough (@JulianneHough) answer your questions.

    You can tweet questions to @Cosmopolitan using #SafeHavenChat, and then tune into Twitter at 8 p.m. EST tonight, January 8th. Whether you want to ask about her new thriller or her intimate interview in Cosmo’s latest issue,  just follow along with @Cosmopolitan and @JulianneHough.
    Posted by Alexandra Valasek (@AlzValz)
    Communications

    Posted by @ at 12:41 PM

  • This Week on Twitter - 7 January

    Monday, January 07, 2013


    On most Mondays, this series alerts you to key things happening on Twitter in the coming week. A live chat with the cast of your favorite TV show, a Q&A with a candidate or author, a pro sports team Tweepstakes — this is the way to keep current on the can’t-mss moments on Twitter for the week ahead. - Ed. 

    Jan. 7-8: ABC Family’s “Tweetapalooza” 
    ABC Family fans can tweet to their favorite stars as the network hosts a two-night Twitter event during premiere episodes for “Switched at Birth” (@ABCFsab), “Bunheads” (@ABCFbunheads), “Pretty Little Liars” (@ABCFpll) and “The Lying Game” (@ABCFlyinggame).  

    Monday, January 7 
    Gilles Marini @GillesMarini - #SwitchedatBirth (8 p.m. EST)
    Sutton Foster @sfosternyc - #Bunheads (9 p.m. EST)

    Tuesday, January 8 
    Keegan Allen @KeeganAllen - #AskPLL (8 p.m. EST) 
    Alexandra Chando @AlexandraChando - #LyingGame (9 p.m. EST)


    Jan. 7 - 1600 Penn Q&A (NBC) 
    Krista Smith (@KristaSmith, Vanity Fair) will host an interview with @JennaElfman at 2pm Monday in anticipation of the premiere of NBC's @NBC1600Penn. Use #AskJennaElfman to join and follow the conversation.


    January 7: VH1 Live-tweeting 
    The casts of VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop” (@lovehiphopvh1) and “Black Ink” (@BlackInkCrew) will take to Twitter Monday to live-tweet their premiere episodes. Fans can tune in and tweet for special behind-the-scenes insights. The live-tweeting lineup includes:

    Love & Hip Hop  - #LoveAndHipHop (8 p.m. ET)
    Yandy Smith - @yandysmith
    Mendeecees Harris - @mandeecees
    Erica Mena - @Erica_mena
    Richard Martin - @Richdollaz
    Dexter Mills - @itsthecons
    Jennifer Bayer - @jenthepen
    Winter Ramos - @bkwinterdog
    Tahiry Jose - @therealtahiry
    Monica Torres - @StarringLoreL
    Raquel De Jesus - @raqithunda
    Joseph Budden - @JoeBudden
    Rashidah Ali - @RashidahAli
    Olivia Longott - @1andonlyOlivia

    Black Ink Crew - #BlackInk (9 p.m. ET)
    Walt- @da_Wizrd
    Puma- @Puma213
    O’S**t- @ohshitsad
    Dutchess- @DutchessofInk

    Ongoing: ABC’s live-tweeting events 
    ABC (@abc) is giving fans a chance to live-tweet to several of their all new comedies and dramas throughout the week. 

    “The Bachelor” - #TheBachelor (1/7; 8 p.m. EST) 
    “The Bachelor,” @BachelorABC
    Sean Lowe, @SeanLowe09

    “Castle” - #Castle (1/7; 10 p.m. EST and PST) 
    “Castle,” @Castle_ABC
    Molly Quinn, @MollyQuinn93 – 10:00pm-11:00pm EST
    Guest star, Darby Stanchfield, @darbystnchfld – 10:00pm-11:00pm PST

    “Don’t Trust the B---- in Apt 23” - #Apt23 (1/8; 9:30 p.m. PST)
    “Don’t Trust the B---- in Apt 23,” @Apt23
    Krysten Ritter, @Krystenritter

    “Private Practice” - #PrivatePractice  (1/8; 10 p.m. EST) 
    “Private Practice,” @PrivatePractice
    Caterina Scorsone, @caterinatweets

    “Suburgatory” - #Suburgatory (1/9; 9:30 p.m. EST) 
    “Suburgatory,” @SuburgatoryABC
    Jeremy Sisto, @JeremySisto

    “Grey’s Anatomy” - #GreysAnatomy (1/10; 9 pm. PST) 
    “Grey’s Anatomy,” @GreysABC
    Jessica Capshaw, @JessicaCapshaw

    “Scandal” - #Scandal (1/10; 10 p.m. EST and PST)
    “Scandal,” @ScandalABC
    Bellamy Young, @BellamyYoung
    Columbus Short, @ColumbusShort1
    Darby Stanchfield, @darbystnchfld
    Guillermo Diaz, @guillermodiazyo
    Jeff Perry, @jscandalp
    Josh Malina, @JoshMalina
    Katie Lowes, @KatieQLowes
    Kerry Washington, @kerrywashington
    Tony Goldwyn, @tonygoldwyn

    Ongoing - Lifetime’s Dance Moms 
    @DanceMoms will be featuring a “Flock to Unlock” program this week to give fans a chance to unlock exclusive videos using the hashtag #MoreDanceMoms. Fans who follow @DanceMoms and use the hashtag will be entered to win a weekly prize of an Abby Bobblehip and Dance Moms DVD. 


     Jan. 13 - Golden Globes - NBC (8pm ET) 
    Check back later this week for more information on live-tweeting casts for this year’s Golden Globe Awards. 

    Have fun out there, and see you next week with more live on Twitter updates.

    Posted by Rachael Horwitz (@rachaelrad)
    Communications

    Posted by @ at 5:00 AM

  • #OnlyOnTwitter: The 113th Congress convenes

    Friday, January 04, 2013

    Yesterday the 113th Congress was sworn in at the US Capitol. Many of the newly-elected members took to Twitter to share their pride, gratitude (and a dash of awe) to be officially taking office. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be sworn in to public office, these Tweets from some of the newest members offer a glimpse into the first day on the job at the Capitol.

    Rep. Eric Swalwell started his morning with a run past the U.S. Capitol, where he would later be sworn in:

    Senator Heidi Heitkamp arrived from frigid North Dakota to find a warm welcome awaiting in her new Capitol Hill office:

    South Carolina’s Tim Scott, the only African American member of the Senate, showed what his first day of work entailed:

    Incoming Virginia Senator Tim Kaine posted bilingual Tweets for the benefit of his Spanish-speaking constituents:

    Many of the new Congress members didn’t arrive in Washington alone: they brought along their families, in person or in spirit, for the historical occasion:

    In addition to welcoming to the new members, colleagues of Illinois Senator Mark Kirk shared in his emotional return to Capitol Hill following a stroke last year:
    While other returning Senators noted the historic composition of the new class:

    Also on the agenda for the first day of business was electing party leadership. The vote for Speaker of the House attracted notable attention; several representatives used Twitter to share updates and their thoughts:

    As the 113th Congress gets underway, following your representatives gives you a closer perspective every day on the goings-on in D.C., your state and district.

    Posted by Bridget Coyne (@bcoyne)
    Government, News, & Social Innovation Team

    Posted by @ at 11:16 AM

  • Celebrating 2013 in the global town square

    Tuesday, January 01, 2013

    Happy new year! Last night millions of people rang in 2013 by tweeting messages as midnight arrived in every time zone. From Tokyo to San Francisco, the spikes in Tweets per second reveal when and where people celebrated as seen in this visualization created by Twitter's @trebor:
    While the numbers tell one story, individual Tweets offer a more intimate look at the hopes, wishes and thoughts people from around the world (and space!) have for this year. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield tweeted to earth from the International Space Station: An early riser tweeted the first sunrise of the year over Mount Fuji: Like many of us, celebrities, athletes and other notables were out in force on Twitter last night wishing everyone a new year and sharing their resolutions: Posted by Rachael Horwitz (@rachaelrad) Communications Team

    Posted by @ at 5:36 PM

  • Our year in Twitter news and notes

    Monday, December 31, 2012

    As the year ends, we wanted to look through our various communication channels to learn what news and notes have interested you most in the past 12 months.

    First up, @twitter. Here are the top 5 tweets of the year (those with the most clicks and retweets):

    1) New Twitter Profiles
    2) Tweets must still flow
    3) Twitter Mobile app updates for iPhone and Android
    4) New version of Twitter, now on for everyone
    5) Twitter now in RTL languages: Hebrew, Farsi, Arabic, Urdu
    Perhaps not surprisingly, your attention has been on a variety of features you want on your Twitter — and our intention to keep your Tweets flowing freely is clearly something you feel passionate about too.

    Beyond any specific Tweet, we’re gratified to see that @twitter followers more than doubled this year. (Last January, we had 6.86 million followers; today, at the end of December, you are 15.4 million strong.) Thank you for following along as we continue to develop and strengthen Twitter for you.

    Twitter Blog
    You’ll see some variations here from our top Tweets, and the top 5 posts (by pageview) were all published in December.

    1) Twitter photos: Put a filter on it
    2) Your Twitter archive
    3) New profiles for everyone
    4) Welcome, Pope Benedict XVI
    5) This Year on Twitter

    Interesting sidenote: Since the blog started in August 2006, eight of the most popular posts ever appeared in 2012, including these five. As for frequency, we’ve been ramping up: including this post, we’ve published 204 times in 2012. That's the most ever over a year's time.

    On our other core blogs, you responded to a wide range of news. The Ads Blog revealed most interest in our advertising partnerships (American Express in March, Pepsi in May). Twitter developers read up avidly on changes to our API, and the ever-popular Bootstrap, including version 2.0. On our Engineering Blog, technical readers were very keen on our quest for speed and the new Innovator’s Patent Agreement.

    During a 7.3 earthquake that reverberated off the coast of Japan in early December, readers there turned to our info on how to use Twitter in such an emergency, which also described Twitter’s inclusion in the government’s Lifeline program. (News of the Twitter photo filters was the other most-read post in Japanese.) In France, the photo filters release was most popular, as was the ability to see Trends in more cities. The UK had a huge year in sport, and our posts on the first 24 hours of the Summer Olympics and the dramatic Champions League match garnered the most views. Meanwhile, Portuguese Twitter users (who are mostly in Brazil) were especially keen on the new Discover features released in May.

    As always, we’re pleased to bring you news and information about Twitter that you find useful and interesting. Here’s to the year ahead on our global town square.

    Posted by Karen Wickre (@kvox)
    Editorial Director

    Posted by @ at 2:16 PM

  • Resolved: It’s time for resolutions

    The New Year is upon us, and soon many of you will share your wishes and resolutions on Twitter for the year ahead. We'll all be watching as the world rings in 2013 with Tweets from Sydney to London to LA, and everywhere in between.

    Whether you aspire to something silly or serious next year, Tweeting your #resolutions can be an effective way to account for your actions. If you want to lose weight, search on #weightloss to find inspiring accounts to follow. If you’re determined to read more books, you can find #bookclub tips. If you need other sources of inspiration, here are a few ideas to spark your resolve.

    Folk hero Woody Guthrie’s resolutions for 1942 are still worthy of consideration:
    A time-honored resolution is (always) to eat more healthy foods:
    Apparently, many of us tend to give up on our resolutions within the first month. Scientific research offers some achievable alternatives, e.g. “If an Olympic medal doesn’t seem to be in the cards, another good route might be sleep more.” So reports @sarahkliff on The Washington Post’s Wonkblog:
    Naturally, there are hardy perennials among resolutions, with something for everyone:
    And what would the eve of 2013 be without an infographic full of data about the success (or failure) of the most popular #resolutions?
    Whatever you resolve, we here at Twitter HQ wish you a safe and happy passage to the New Year ahead.

    Posted by Karen Wickre (@kvox)
    Editorial Director

    Posted by @ at 10:48 AM