Justin Bieber follows me - Celebs get on board Twitchange for Haiti

Okay he doesn't, but for $510 he will for 90 days. Or if I pay $2,325 : Justin Bieber will follow you on Twitter for a minimum of 90 days, will retweet one of your tweets and will send out a tweet including your @twitterhandle

That's nice. However if you aren't some easily-mind-controlled-bad-music-choosing-ten-year-old, you can choose to pay a multitude of celebrities for the same package here

Response from Stephen Fry's people!

So we sent a link of the iPad launch footage to Stephen Fry's people and got this lovely reply:

Dear Louise,

Many thanks for this link which I shall forward to Stephen Fry with pleasure.

So glad to have seen it - makes me feel I was there, rather than glued to my desk at the time.

All best,

Jo
PA to Stephen Fry

iPad launch London UK: Interview with Stephen Fry and the crowds

The Lounge hit the Apple store on Regent Street, London, on Friday 28th May 2010 for the launch of the new iPad on behalf of Brand Republic magazine.

We spoke to some of the 1,000 people who had been queuing for up to 16 hours. And we ran in to Stephen Fry!!



According to 63336, the majority of people in the queue - 56% - were buying the iPad based on reviews, international success and pure faith in Apple products, without having tested the product first.

Check it out on Brand Republic too

Full interview with Stephen Fry at the iPad launch on Regent Street

Here's The Lounge Group's interview with Stephen Fry about the new iPad!




We met him bright and early this morning at the iPad launch at the Apple store on Regents Street in London. He talked to us about the iPad, why he loves Apple and the future of online media consumption.

The interview's also on guardian.co.uk.

The iTunes Festival

OK, so before I get “blogging”, allow me to introduce myself. My name’s Ashley James, female, aged 22. I’m one of the new additions to the team.

Interests: Boris Johnson (!)
Skills: Having the remarkable ability to refer to Boris in any topic of conversation
Dislikes: Abbreviations, bad manners, P.D.A (public displays of affection)

If I’m honest, I’m a blog virgin - yup that's right, this is my first time! I’m slightly more traditional when it comes to writing, so don’t expect too much of me (or any cyber chat!).

Anyway, let’s get down to business. I thought I’d write about the iTunes Festival I went to at the Roundhouse in Camden last night. I applied a while back because one of my favourite bands, Mumford & Sons (check them out), were due to play. What an amazing bonus that The Temper Trap and the one and only Stephen Fry were added to the evening’s line up! I invited one of my best friends, Amelia, as it was her birthday a few days before – and being a recent graduate, my bank is still suffering (or is it the credit crunch...) so I couldn’t splash out on anything for her.

So, in chronological order ... Stephen Fry! Taking us right back beyond even his years (no offense Sir) to the time of the caveman, Stephen talked us through the history of music. Here’s a great fact (it interested me anyway) – tape cassettes were invented by the Nazis during World War 2! He also, somewhat controversially, defended illegal downloading – if you’re a student and you love music but can’t afford to pay for it, then you cannot be labelled a criminal (according to Mr Fry – I’m staying out of it!). Next, the Temper Trap – what an amazing front man, his voice is incredible. I love the song Sweet Disposition, which I knew before, but I found their other stuff a little heavy, although I definitely can’t knock their passionate performance. And now the main act – Mumford & Sons. They were aaaaah-mazing. The lead singer, Marcus, is a born performer. They all play so many different instruments (all at once) – I really hope they go far.
Something else that really can’t go unmentioned is the couple that were stood in front of us – other than their uncomfortable displays of P.D.A - when the guy went to the loo, the girl was slightly edgy about being parted from him for so long and continued to call him non-stop (he was in her phone as fiancé)... !

All in all an amazing evening – you can’t knock anything that is free. I recommend applying for one of their other evenings.

Anyway, in the words of Bugs Bunny... That’s all folks!
Ash xx

A Basic Guide to Twitter

Twitter is fast turning into the latest web phenomenon. It is essentially a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters. With celebrities such as Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry spearheading a recent surge in popularity, we thought we would explain what all the fuss is about. Here is our guide of how to get started, as well as some recommended Twitter etiquette.

Firstly, get yourself registered.

Next, work out why you are using it - for work or pleasure. If it’s for your brand then outline what you would like to achieve through the platform. It is important to have clear objectives to maximise the potential of your twitter page. These can include:

• Making your brand more personable
• Active engagement with a certain target audience
• Driving traffic to your business
• Driving traffic to your website/blog

Next, ensure you build a successful business profile online, this can be done by using this checklist:

1. Claim your company, product, and appropriate brand names by registering your unique brand URL early.
2. Keep the profile honest.
3. Create a link between your Twitter profile page and website.
4. Be a helpful member of the community by answering other people’s questions.
5. Keep the tone true to your brand, whilst taking the opportunity to have fun and show some personality.

You can use Twitter to talk about your brand, but for it to really work you need something interesting to say. Ideally, if you have a ‘fan base’ of sorts, this will be a great tool for you to keep them hooked with tidbits.

An application called Mr. Tweet helps you to build relationships by looking through your network and your tweets. Mr. Tweet will regularly suggest good people and followers you are missing out on, recommend you to enthusiastic users who are relevant to you, and regularly update useful stats about your Twitter usage. It’s a valuable tool that will help you make the most out of Twitter.

Finally, and most importantly for marketers are the stats - Twitter Friends is a brilliant way of keeping abreast of Twitter friend numbers as well as how many followers your page has had over the past month.

All there is left to do is get twittering…