Royal wedding madness invades social networks

My excitement and anticipation for the big royal wedding has been mounting for weeks, not because I’m somewhat of an Anglophile but rather for the sheer once-in-a-lifetime excitement of the whole thing.

Apparently, I’m not the only one with such royal envy, as my social networks explode with royal wedding reminders.

Needless to say I was excited this morning, jumping out of bed at 5 a.m. New York time. This stands in stark contrast to my usual morning routine, which requires a forklift and caffeine IV drip to even think about getting out of bed.

Immediately signing on to Twitter, I noticed the social network abuzz not only from friends in England but surprisingly, friends in Berlin, New York, and even L.A.

Yesterday, #RoyalWedding popped up as a Promoted Tweet on my Twitter feed. Immediately I asked myself, who is paying for this Promoted Tweet? It couldn’t possibly be the British royal family, but perhaps the British Tourism board? The major news networks? To this I say, good! Why not?

Beyond the Promoted Tweet, the rest of the trending topics this morning range from Westminster Abbey, Prince Harry, Camilla, Buckingham Palace and even Brits. Keep in mind, it is 6 a.m. here in New York City and I’m having Twitter conversations with friends and colleagues about the intricacies of the wedding, the music, the dress, the guest list.

And then the Foursquare and Facebook Places check-ins begin. And I’m not just talking about friends in Britain. Instead, New Yorkers are checking into royal wedding locations in Times Square, as a “moving target” and more. Searching Foursquare yields over twenty locations.

Upon visiting Google.com, the Doodle even represents a cartoon drawing of the wedding party complete with confetti and the carriage. Heck, even Google Street View has a royal wedding theme with the little Street View character replaced by a cartoon bride and groom if you search a location near Westminster Abbey. How lovely.

Although the sheer extravagance of the royal wedding has indeed been criticized in a time when England and the rest of the world is facing hard economic times, analysts argue that the royal wedding brings England up to ten hours of TV time, which in advertising hours would cost somewhere near 1 billion dollars to achieve.

The strong TV and social networking presence represents a ten hour “Visit Britain” billboard across the world in high heels and an McQueen dress, which in my opinion is perfect reason to be excited about a royal wedding. Besides, why does it always have to be serious all the time?

My only complaint? There was no royal smooch! Not to worry, William and Kate will have a scheduled kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace as a hat tip to Diana and Charles' moment back in 1981. A scheduled kiss? How very British.