It was great to see women’s football get its own show on BBC Two last night. The Women’s Football Show was a well produced, interesting programme and, looking at the Twitter comments, it was clearly filling a need.

There was plenty of chat on the show about Twitter and the women’s league’s Twitter ambassadors. Surprising then to find that @BBCSport practically ignored its airing – they retweeted a link to iPlayer the  next day. It would be great to have a hashtag for all the conversation around the show.

Despite all that, it’s a great start. Here’s a quick look at the conversation on Twitter last night… #moreplease

Big Liberty842 congratulations to Alan Carr who took home the award for Best Entertainment Performance for Chatty Man at last night’s BAFTA ceremony.

If you missed his entertaining acceptance speech, here it is!

I’m excited to be working with Sarah Dunant to promote her new book, Blood & Beauty which was published on 2 May. It’s a thrilling prospect to delve into the Renaissance and the lives of the notorious Borgia family.

We’ve set up a new Twitter account @BorgiaBlood to give people an insight into the lives of the Borgias as well as the background to writing the book and the research that went into it. It’s fascinating stuff. Watch this space for more news!

Cesare Borgia’s “own moral compromise” is written on his face as he contracts syphylis… Sarah Dunant @bbcradio3 #BloodandBeauty

— Blood & Beauty (@BorgiaBlood) May 7, 2013

Liberty842 is helping to bring The Ratties back to life. They first scurried across our TV screens in 1987. There were 26 5-minute episodes, narrated by the inimitable Spike Milligan and created by Spike’s daughter Laura Milligan along with Mike Wallis.

To celebrate Spike Milligan’s birthday, one of our favourite Ratties episodes has been re-mastered and made available on The Ratties’ YouTube channel. Meet Tatty, Aunt Hatty, Uncle Matty, Baby Batty and The Fatty Brothers…

Follow The Ratties on Twitter, join their Facebook page and subscribe to their YouTube channel. There’s definitely more to come!

Good evening Ratbags! We made our MC Spike Milligan a delicious cake. Then we ate it all up. Happy 95th birthday to him! The Fatty brothers

— The Ratties (@The_Ratties) April 16, 2013

Watch the re-mastered episode: Cowboy Time:

Alan Carr’s Grand National Specstacular on Channel 4 used Twitter and its celebrity connections to create a huge buzz around the programme and around the Grand National (which incidentally reached 8.9m viewers according to Barb’s audience figures).
 
Liberty842 made sure there was plenty of excitement on Twitter. According to Second Sync, there were 23,267 tweets around broadcast making it the second most talked about TV show on Twitter that day. Channel 4 provided a list of the runners and riders on a specially created website.

Below is an account of what happened – and you can read more about our Specstacular work here…

Alan Carr’s Grand National Specstacular

A huge Twitter push to generate buzz around Alan Carr’s Specstacular and the Grand National. Celebrities and viewers got involved in the conversation and excitement around the show and the race.

Storified by LIBERTY842 Ltd· Mon, Apr 08 2013 05:34:52

I LOVE A GOOD RIDE! @chattyman: @DoctorChristian Hi Christian! Hope you’re looking forward to the @chattyman #GrandNational sweepstake! Dr Christian Jessen

Mayhem filming Alan’s #GrandNational #Specstacular – but here’s cool as a cucumber – @KimberleyJWalsh Sam x twitpic.com/cgrdy7Alan Carr Chatty Man

@MrDuncanJames @chattyman I will be glued to the tv..If mines not in the lead, then I will shout for yours… hehe… Colin R Jackson

@chattyman love alan carr, that’s why I chose weird al for the grand national fingers crossed xxEmma Kennedy

Buzzing! Congrats auroras encore! Hope you all put a bet on! ) @chattymanDuncan James

@chattyman send my love to @KimberleyJWalsh she just won me money! Wooo Oscar time thanks kimba love yoooou!!xxxxAloud&Proud#SmackDat

Stepping into the immaculately polished shoes of an Edwardian merchant prince has been an education and a treat since Liberty842 was commissioned to bring @MrSelfridge to life on Twitter by the retail pioneer’s great store to tie in with series 1 of ITV drama Mr Selfridge.

We started work in January 2013, soaking up all the knowledge we could from Lindy Woodhead’s book Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge, around which the ITV series was based, paying particular attention to the personality and the catchphrases of the original Harry Gordon Selfridge.

Luckily for us, The Chief wasn’t exactly in short supply on either count so we quickly established an online character for the now 150-year-old gentleman, replying to questions and comments by addressing people as ‘Sir’ or ‘Madam’ and always signing off with Harry’s initials: HGS.

But Mr Selfridge wasn’t just here to chat – he was also keen to tell people about the amazing history of his London department store, delving into a priceless image archive of everything from the elegant roof gardens downwards, taking in original newspaper ads and snaps from the family album along the way.

Harry was rewarded with an enthusiastic response from Twitter followers who took extremely well to his flirtatious but gentlemanly ways, and in many cases shared their own memories of visiting Selfridges.

Shopping, seduction and sharing the history of Selfridges

How Liberty842 used Twitter to celebrate the heritage of Selfridges during series 1 of ITV drama Mr Selfridge

Storified by LIBERTY842 Ltd· Fri, Mar 22 2013 11:08:28

@MrSelfridge @sabrinaghayour lolz can I get a follow too Sir worked for your store for 2 yrs circa 2005 & had highest sales in fashion Molly Bakes

@MrSelfridge As I was the Personal Assistant to the Director of Selfridges I am honoured to be followed by you Manjinder Joshi

@Selfridges My great-grannie came over from Italy in 1904 she wore 4711 until 99 years old. I recognised the packaging on last weeks show Francesca Revel

Yesterday I attended Social TV: The next 12 months hosted by Digitas. (You guessed it, I’m in New York attending events at Social Media Week.)

Panelists included Digitas Social Media exec Jordan Bitterman, Bravo TV Exec Lisa Hsia, Greg Rivera from Xbox and Lost Remote writer Natan Edelsburg .

Host Jordon Bitterman kicked off the session with the question “What is social TV?” – my favourite response being “A million square foot living room… with everyone watching TV in it”. Throughout the seminar, each panelist highlighted interesting examples of where they had experimented using social media to amplify TV content and grow audience interest. Lisa spotlighted Bravo’s Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen where they had online only exclusive episodes and voting to allow the audience to save contestants, while Greg Rivera showed how they had made a Toyota advert a two way experience.

On the subject of commercial investment, Lisa Hsia commented that the Bravo shows that have the most active social media following are the least lucrative when it comes to sponsorship. Her reason for this, she said was because both the fans’ comments and content may not be “sponsor friendly”.

This was rather depressing to hear as for those of us who deliver social media services to TV clients, the trickle-down effect of this lack of investment (or interpreted value) means that we will continue to fight for ever-tightened budgets.

The panelists all agreed that Neilson’s forthcoming Twitter rating will be one of the most important developments for the future of social TV. Natan Edelsburg predicted global TV launches with global sponsors, as a way of combating illegal downloads. He also said that community managers will become editors (as Liberty842’s already are!), as they will be expected to deliver the very best quality content, to stay ahead of the game. Music to my ears!

Lisa wished “in her ideal world” that the future of mobile be aligned with a realistic commercial model ­– but for now, however, TV execs still struggle to execute mobile applications due to lack of people and money to keep them updated. She said with so many second screen apps, it raises the question of where to focus investment.

The title of this event suggested we were going to be enlightened with the answers to burning questions around methods, new technology, viewer behavior and commercial value of social TV. The reality is that no one had the answers but that we are still experimenting, feeling the way towards a more proven social TV future.

The great news is that with experimentation, we learn and have fun in the process. We have our work to do.

By Daisy, 21 February 2013

Just two weeks into our project for Selfridges, @MrSelfridge has been deemed Retail Week’s campaign of the week. Needless to say we’re chuffed to bits!

We’ve stepped into the glorious shoes of the ghost of Harry Gordon Selfridge on Twitter – all to coincide with the ITV programme, Mr Selfridge. We’re working closely with ad agency, 18 Feet and Rising as well as Selfridges.

The Retail Week article ends with a quote from Red Ant CEO Dan Mortimer who praises @MrSelfridge and his ability to “extend the brand personality from the store to the TV screen and onto social channels… @MrSelfridge works because it has an engaging, vivid tone of voice and focuses on conversation with followers.”

For all your fashion needs, follow @MrSelfridge for the most eloquent advice.

A short story about the power of Twitter, how it enables a speedy response and a happy ending.

I spotted Dr Black’s tweet not long after it was posted, tweeted her from @BBCTheArchers to say that we were looking into her problem, and alerted The Archers team. Meanwhile, Dr Black had managed to find someone who put her in touch with The Archers office. Twitter at its best.

Storify from @JemStone at the Beeb.

By Tayler, 16 January 2013

Alan Carr’s New Year Specstacular topped SecondSync’s New Year’s Eve leaderboard for most tweeted about programme with over 33,000 tweets about the show around broadcast.

According to Broadcastnow.co.uk, “The entertainment extravaganza which featured an array of stars including Jonathan Ross, Jack Whitehall and Gok Wan generated 49% of all the TV-related tweets during the time it was on-air, with 24, 289 unique users sending 233 tweets per minute between them.”

Liberty842′s Sam hosted the Twitter party via @chattyman on the night. The highlight – and the peak on Twitter – was Alan dressing up as Harry Styles! From our management of the @chattyman account, we’ve seen all those One Direction fans stick with the show with many still calling for Alan to take over as the band’s manager!

Alan tweeted a photo of him as Harry which was retweeted over 41,000 times, and Harry Styles’ enthusiastic response – “@AlanCarr Hahaha!! I love it… Happy New Year!” - was retweeted over 40,000 times.