The Big Numbers

• Over a million people in the UK used Facebook statuses to discuss the Royal Wedding in the past 24 hours.
• During this morning alone some 684,399 status updates referencing the wedding were posted in just 4 hours in the UK – equating to an average of 47 mentions every second.
• Many people in the UK were so excited they couldn’t sleep, with just under 500 people updating about the pending nuptials per hour ahead of 8am
• Much has been said about the US obsession with today’s wedding – and this was reflected in our numbers – with greater numbers of American Facebook users posting updates than those from the UK – 1.953 million to the UK’s 1.004 million.

So who were people talking about?

• David Beckham’s arrival led to a surge in discussion – with 9,000 mentions of his name in just 20 minutes!
• Just under double the number of people were talking about David Beckham than Victoria Beckham
• The Queen and Prince Philip didn’t even feature in the top list of discussed people – and Prince Andrew was nowhere to be seen.
• Instead, we saw Harry’s position at number three and fledgling Royal celebrity Pippa Middleton at number 8
• Kate’s rebrand into ‘Princess Catherine’ has begun in earnest, with nearly 2,000 people mentioning her new name for the first time after the ceremony
• Prince Beatrice’s hat became the subject of a Facebook fan page – ‘Princess Beatrice’s Ridiculous Royal Wedding Hat’ (4000 fans)

US versus UK

• Despite not featuring in the top ten list in the UK, in the US the Queen was the 14th most discussed topic – with a position in the list similar to that of Victoria Beckham in the UK.

Here’s the list for the UK:

1 - Kate Middleton - 131,385 mentions

2 - Prince William - 104,747 mentions

3 - Prince Harry - 64,107 mentions

4 - David Beckham - 22,421 mentions

5 - Victoria Beckham - 12,346 mentions

6 - Elton John - 12,283 mentions

7 - Princess Diana - 11,103 mentions

8 - Pippa Middleton - 8,619 mentions

9 - Prince Charles - 6,791 mentions

10 - Princess Beatrice - 4,439 mentions

11 - Princess Catherine - 1,928 mentions

12 - Princess Eugenie - 1,385 mentions

13 - Guy Ritchie - 290 mentions

And what got people chatting?

 

The dress…

• Speculation grew throughout the morning as to the designer of Kate’s dress; with references to Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, and Diana’s dress designer, David Emanuel.
  • 13,120 mentions of Sarah Burton
  • 7,863 mentions of Alexander McQueen
  • 4,264 mentions of Emanuel

…the hat…

• Samantha Cameron’s lack of a hat attracted a lot of attention – as she arrived at Westminster Abbey there was some 600 mentions of her total lack of hat…

…and the nose…!

• Tara Palmer-Tomkinson’s nose attracted a lot of discussion – with 2046 mentions injust 20 minutes!

Elton

• National treasure Elton John featured prominently in pictures from the Abbey – leading to over 12,000 mentions of him within status updates.

Where were people talking about the wedding?

• Thousands of people crowded the streets of London in order to see the event – and lots of them got closer to it by checking in to the key locations along the route using Facebook Places.
• Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey were most popular – with 4,330 and 2,274 people checking in respectively.

New ways to interact with a Royal Wedding….

• ITN’s live stream was available on the ITN Facebook Page with live comments – it saw 3.5million streams + peaked at 110,000 viewers online.
• ITN used Facebook Questions to ask “who is the best dressed” and “where should they go on their honeymoon?”
• CNN live streamed the event on its website with live comments
• ABC live streamed the wedding on its Page: as well as creating royal wedding polls
• ITN, CNN and ABC incorporated live Facebook statistics into their TV broadcasts.