Royal Wedding Mania!

In case you live under a rock, you may have noticed that last Friday marked an important date in British (and global) history- the wedding of heir to the throne Prince William and Catherine Middleton! More than a historical or political landmark, however, this event proved to be one of the greatest media events of the twenty-first century. The history of this relationship has been documented by British and other European tabloids since its very beginning, but with the announcement of their engagement, suddenly their romance gained global attention. The entire road to the official wedding has been documented; written about, filmed, tweeted, posted, etc. The royals have managed to keep a relatively low profile since the death of Princess Diana in 1997 (with the exception of a few politically incorrect slip-ups from the notorious Prince Harry).  However, since the 16th of November, 2010, the entire family, including Catherine's family, have been under non-stop media attention.

Then there was the actual wedding. Over the past few days, google and yahoo searches have been bombarded with searches for Catherine's dress, the famous guest list, highlights from the wedding, Pippa and Harry (the couple's respective siblings and maid of honor/best man), among hundreds of other searches. Social media has also spurred an onslaught of theories, speculations, opinions, and judgments about the happenings of the wedding.
-"Why did Prince William have so much trouble putting the ring on Kate?"
-"Why is the girl in the Royal kiss picture frowning?"
-"Are Pippa and Harry dating?"
-"What did Prince William say to Kate and her Father at the altar?"
-"Did Catherine Middleton copy Grace Kelly's wedding style?"

These are just some of the questions circulating the web- there are hundred more. According to the BBC, it has been estimated that the wedding was watched by roughly a third of the world's population, and that almost 25 million people saw it live in Britain alone, with nearly 35 million catching some of their coverage throughout the day. Television viewing rates soared, all major news channels had live streaming and broadcasts of the event, and Youtube provided a live streaming of the entire wedding on its own "Royal Channel".
More than the amount of coverage, I think it is important to note the triumph in the communication of this event worldwide, and the astonishment of the interactiy between users about one event. Rarely have there been such peaceful and joyous events that have spurred this much attention. Media frenzy is common in the case of disasters and relief, but not as commonly seen among celebratory occasions. People from all different countries, races, and religions joined together to both celebrate and communicate their favorite moments, opinions, best wishes, and questions about the wedding. Moreover, social networking sites were able to clearly see their usage explode with related content and increased communication. From this, there has been many areas noted where both users are satisfied and improvements are needed. The Royal Wedding acted as a sort of test-run for the efficiency and effectiveness of social media today, and, as far as I can tell, they nailed it.

Newer Post Older Post