how to create a trending topic on twitter

In general, not that many Twitter users are convinced of the value of a trending topic, at the moment at which I am typing this they are pretty legit, The X Factor show just wrapped and an act went through which is currently stimulating a lot of discussion, there are also a couple of NFL teams trending.

However, this isn’t always the case. Just last night there were a series of TT (Trending Topics) “just for fun” including #threewordsaftersex, whereby users add three extra words after the word “sex”. Nice.

So how do you manipulate a TT on Twitter? Can you start a TT on Twitter? How many Tweets does it take?

Buzzgain, the DIY PR people, have put together their thoughts on this, although these are probably somewhat outdated now, as there are more Twitter users. You can check out their facts and figures here.

All in all, creating a TT, or the formation of a TT is contingent on the following factors:

• Ruling out the competition – right at the end of an episode of The X Factor, American Idol or during a football game or election just isn’t going to cut it
• Making it somewhat newsworthy – GAGADAILY.COM (Lady Gaga’s biggest fansite) has a knack for getting this right at the time when a video from Lady Gaga is premiered or a song is released on iTunes, see #badromanceiTunes as an example – and yes they do enlist the help of @PerezHilton on occasion
• Getting the right people to Tweet it - the bigger the following the more likely you are to get re-Tweets
• Location of Twitter users (via Buzzgain) – this is a nature of time, but most twitter users are in coastal United States, Japan. If you wish to trend a topic on Twitter, during the timezone they are most active, you are better off talking about topics that interest them

In addition, it is always worth reading up on what #moonfruit did as a brand to maintain a TT, although these sort of stunts can get banned by Twitter themselves.

lady gaga tears the fame monster in half

FOR HER FANS.

Gaga announced today on German talk show Wetten, Dass..? that she has been fighting with her record label in order to release The Fame Monster as a separate albums, so that her fans don’t need to pay the full whack for the re-release (which will still be available as a special edition). This is BIG news, although randomly announced on a German chat show, preceeded only by a Tweet from Gaga earlier tonight saying: “Have an important announcement tonight on german tv Wetten Dass…watch little monsters…”

The show also saw the 30 second preview of the video for Bad Romance, you can check both of these out below:

the story of ‘damaris’ who ‘died from a broken heart’

Patrick Wolf just announced the release of Damaris as his next single and without a doubt, my favourite on the album, on December 14th.

The story/meaning of the song, according to Patrick’s Facebook is amazingly beautiful and worthy of being posted in full. REALLY excited to see the video directed by and co-starring Patrick and actress Gwendoline Christie (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus). Stated to be Wolf’s visual interpretation of the passionate romance between Damaris and Lewis, shot on location at Blackdown, West Sussex.

“The song is semi-autobiographical and centred on the loss of love, but was also inspired by a tale discovered by Patrick when he went to seek out his English roots after a period of heartbreak and the ending of a relationship that was documented in the song The Magic Position.

Tracing the roots of his father under the family name Apps back to a family of ferret-catchers and blacksmiths in Brede, East Sussex, Patrick stumbled across a small wooden cross engraved with the name ‘Damaris’ among the gravestones of his ancestors…

From that moment, Patrick began to research who Damaris might be, and it came about that the wooden cross told a larger tale than anyone could have imagined. It is still unsure whether Damaris was a gypsy or a heathen, but she belonged outside of the Catholic church, who in 1880, held a very strict reign over romance and passion in such a small village. Damaris was most certainly not from the Catholic church, so when she fell in love with Lewis, the son of the Parish priest, she was denied of ever being united in marriage with him.

Patrick writes the song from the perspective of Lewis after discovering that Damaris has ‘died of a broken heart’, which, in the 19th Century was a polite term for either suicide, or a romantic notion that someone can be so heartbroken that they give up on life. The song is a musical iconisation of a true life Romeo and Juliet from Sussex. Two star-crossed lovers who were destined to be together, but were denied, due to the repression and sign of the times.

The church organ on the song, played by Patrick and the drums by Marcello Vig were both recorded in 2008 on location in St. George’s Church, the very church ground where the romance took place a hundred years before between Damaris and Lewis”.

Check out his live performance of Damaris from Bottom Lounge in Chicago:

i like ellie goulding

Her Twitter is a bit boring, but her song ‘Under the Sheets’ is really really good. She’s friends with Little Boots and Marina and the Diamonds too.

[via www.myspace.com/elliegoulding]

stalker, stalkerazzi

This is one for all of those who frequently comment on the slight (let’s call it) bias towards/obsession over Lady Gaga on mediacation:

[via EQ]

using spotify helped me kick the habit

Spotify has helped curb the illegal downloading of music, according to a new survey, by (please enter PR plug).

Nearly two thirds of the research participants, who admitted to illegally downloading music, said using Spotify encouraged them to either quit completely or at least reduce the amount by which they did it. #stopleakinggaga will be happy.

ellen von unwerth: fräulein

A month ago, I posted that the Ellen Von Unwerth exhibition was set to open in London this month…this weekend, I went. Ellen is an incredible photographer with a somewhat unparalleled vision. The darkness, joie de vivre and sensuality that oozes through her work was even more astounding in the flesh.

The expo took place in collaboration with TASCHEN, who are publishing a major monograph of Ellen von Unwerth’s work, also entitled Fräulein. What was lacking from Fräulein, however, was her more recent work. A lot of this more pop-culture related work was not included, the expo and monograph focussed on subjects including Claudia Schiffer, Kate Moss, Vanessa Paradis, Eva Mendes, Dita von Teese, Adriana Lima and Carla Bruni, there was no sign of her latest works with Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Beyonce or Rihanna – some of these being iconic shots from very telling points in these stars lives, something that Ellen captured beautifully.

I would definitely recommend visiting the MichaelHoppen Gallery to see Fräulein, but I have also included some of my favourite works that were missing above and below.

when album releases clash

November 23rd sees the launch of FIVE highly anticipated pop albums; in no particular order:

• Lady Gaga – The Fame Monster
• Britney Spears – The Singles Collection
• Adam Lambert – For Your Entertainment
• Shakira – She Wolf
• Rihanna – Rated R

Yes, it is a prime date for Christmas releases…but REALLY? ALL in the same week? How these are set to fair in the charts is anyone’s guess…

Here is Adam Lambert’s debut single, For Your Entertainment, it is a fucking brilliant electro-pop sex-fest of music, and I don’t think it is supposed to be about S&M, although it definitely sounds like it could be.

…and here’s the final video #britney3premiere

As promised, along with an article VERY similar to the blog post that I wrote yesterday, from the LA Times: A bit-sized Britney: Pop singer takes the Twitter approach to promotion

The video is stunning, the choreography, the sparkle in here eyes and her ass. Amazing. Kudos to @AdamLeber on a nice little Twitter campaign for the launch. Definitely beats the rather niche one for the launch of Break the Ice last year.

1…2…3…: the social media way

I’m sure that if we all had 3,649,205 (correct at the time of typing this) followers on Twitter, our social media campaigns would be just as successful. Alas, we are not ALL @BritneySpears, now officially the 2nd most followed person/brand on Twitter, as confirmed by her manager, and genius, @AdamLeber earlier today.

So Brit Brit/JIVE/Adam, decided to launch a mini-teaser campaign for the new single ‘3′, from The Singles Collection (the 2009 Greatest Hits album). Yes, the track has already been number 1 on the Billboard Top 100 and iTunes, but tomorrow marks the launch of the video. 

Brit Brit/JIVE/Adam gave away three (3) teasers in three stages over three days. The first being three images, released every three hours, three days before the video launch day. The second being 3 x five second video clips (via TwitVid) in a random-assed order that fans were invited to piece together and put on YouTube, and yes there are now already LOADS of these on the video sharing site. The final stage is the actual launch of the video – tomorrow.

All in all – smart, cute and effective…ohh yeah and OLD SCHOOL, but with a new media twist, LOVE it. Quick piece of trivia, while I’ve still got your attention, the song ‘3′, is 3 minutes and 33 seconds long – thanks Max Martin.

Check out the full 15-second teaser below. The video to launch tomorrow. The Singles Collection is out on 24 November.