Is Twitter the new MySpace?

When I logged into Twitter the other day I discovered I had a new follower in @georgiawonder. As is customary, I had a look to see what this was, and it's a 'UK band'. There has also been a spate of random businesses including Galvin at Windows, the swanky Park Lane restaurant, active on Twitter, as well as more 'viral' activity like @GMcQueen (better known as Peter Kay's Geraldine) and @Aleksandr_Orlov from the comparethemeerkat ads. This has got me thinking.



When MySpace kicked off, savvy bands and self-promoters were all over it, and you couldn't log in without having four or five new friend requests from complete randoms. Twitter can do the same thing, and I think is, but makes this much less intrusive and is nowhere near as high maintenance.

Whack yourself a picture and a background in, with a link to your site, and away you go. You are limited in how much you can post, which means you can't ramble, and it's pretty much centralised (you can use direct messages for privacy if you like).

The user-friendly nature of Twitter clearly makes it appeal to a different generation, and with a slightly different purpose. Lily Allen came from 'nothing' on MySpace, while prominent Twitterers like Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross are clearly more established names who don't need to 'promote' themselves but WANT TO communicate with their audience.

In addition, the similarities don't stop there, as Twitter seems to be the new darling of the British media, who can't believe their luck in getting free updates from the lives of celebs, with Ross even threatening to Tweet with Fry when he appears on his returning show.



The issue for Twitter, of course, is how to start raking it in without losing the key attractions. If they can find how to, and possibly even if they don't, 2009 could be a massive year for Twitter.

Christmas Tune at Noon - Geraldine McQueen

This is the second catchy single from Peter Kay's alter ego Geraldine McQueen - Once Upon a Christmas Song. Hopefully it'll spank the pants off Alexandra Burke's Hallelujah in the race to be Christmas Number One. Not that I actually give a tinker's cuss.

Incidentally, Peter Kay's Britain's Got the X Factor... and then some! Will be on next Friday and, if it's anywhere near as good as Britain's Got The Pop Factor, it'll be a real treat.

The Bolton News Sausage!

For those that don't know, I grew up in Bolton. This means I have an unhealthy attachment to Peter Kay, Ritzy's nightclub and the Bolton Evening News.

The Bolton Evening News incurred my wrath in the not-too-distant past when they saw fit to reposition themselves as the Bolton News, owing to the fact that they came out significantly before the evening. Fair enough, but it doesn't bother the Evening Standard, which you can get at about 11 in the morning.

I forgave them, however, when they employed Steven Thompson, a friend of mine and all-round-good-guy, as a reporter. It is paying them significant dividends.



Behold the Bolton News Banger, a sausage manufactured especially for the newspaper by local butcher Malcolm Carr in Carr's Scotch Beef Shop in Blackburn Road. The tasty meat product is partly to celebrate the launch of British Sausage Week, and is available for £3.40 a pound. My knowledge of sausage prices is limited, but judging by Steve's reaction in this video, it comes very highly recommended.

It's also worth watching the video to see how many times Steve uses the classic enrolling technique of repeating someone's name, in this case Malcolm.

"It's a very peppery sausage which is just what I like."

UPDATE! Steven Thompson and the Bolton News Banger are now available on You Tube:

Four o'clock funny - Two Up, Two Down

"After Mam and Dad had gone, we just decided to pump everything we'd got into Black Cock."

This is incredibly dark but absolutely spot on as a pastiche of the X Factor and its ilk.

I'm still laughing at Peter Kay's Britain's Got the Pop Factor and Possibly a new Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice.

Rick Astley on Britain's Got the Pop Factor...

...and possibly a new Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice.

Bolton comedian Peter Kay's Channel 4 masterpiece spoof, Britain's Got the Pop Factor and possibly a new Celebrity Jesus Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice, aired on Sunday night, included some notable cameo performances.

Alongside the omnipresent Ricky Wilson of the Kaiser Chiefs, former Give us a Clue captain Lionel Blair (did he ever do anything else) and Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney, was a man truly of our times, 80s pop star Rick Astley.



Astley, one of whose Stock, Aitken and Waterman mentors Pete Waterman was on the fictional 'panel', joined finalists '2 Up, 2 Down' to sing 'Something's Got a Hold of My Heart', with hilarious consequences.

Astley has become a huge cult figure in recent months, with the internet phenomenon of Rickrolling leading to Barackrolling and ultimately, because it was based on an online vote, a nomination for (and likely success in) a vote for MTV's best act of all time.

Peter Kay's spoof of the X Factor and the general talent show/ Reality TV standards of British television was a seminal event watched by over 6 million people on the night and likely many more like me who watched it time-delayed. It also gave Rick Astley a chance to show he can laugh at himself.

All together now "Something's got a hold of my...SHIT!"

ASDA's Dunkable Cookies - Thanks to Peter Kay

The good people at ASDA's product development department have evidently been busy watching Peter Kay DVDs as the supermarket has announced a range of dunkable biscuits inspired by the Boltonian's stand-up routine.

Chortle reported on the slightly bizarre news that nine months of time have been spent conceiving and developing and tasting the product which, according to ASDA's press release, are also more ergonomically shaped to fit into your standard cup of tea or coffee.

The cookies, called ASDA's Dunkin' Cookies, are baked in-store and go on sale today, another nail in the coffin of Limp Bizkit. Here's the inspiration, from Bolton, showbiz capital of the world: