It’s that time of year again, when the ultimate red carpet is rolled out at the Kodak theatre, just as much gossip is spreading about the designer dresses as the statuettes, and agents are practically selling their children in order to get into the Vanity Fair after-party. It’s Oscars time.

I completely adore this night in the film calendar. Granted, us UK folk have to show some serious dedication in order to watch it live (a 1.30am start on Monday morning on Sky Premiere HD), but it’s worth it. And hopefully this year I might actually last past the red carpet interviews (but the dresses really are the best bit…).

So in celebration of Academy Award weekend, this week’s Synergy Twitter #FF special is dedicated to all things Oscars.

Follow and enjoy.

1. The Academy – @theacademy (the big guns)

2. The Oscars – @oscar_awards (the official Awards stream, great for all the build up buzz)

3. Vanity Fair – @vanityfairmag (top magazine and hosts of the best Oscars party in the world. Ever)

4. Oscars Awards – @oscarsawards (the Tweet Meme aggregator feed of all things Oscars)

5. E! Red Carpet News - @redcarpet (Live from the Red Carpet with E! Entertainment)

6. Empire Magazine – @empiremagazine (our favourite film buff monthly read)

7. Natalie Portman – @INataliePortman (top choice for Best Actress nod this year and well-deserved in our book)

8. Helena Bonham Carter – @_HelenaBCarter_ (doing it for the Brits with The King’s Speech, new to Twitter so deserving of a big welcome)

9. BBC Film 2011 – @BBCFilm2011 (superb film preview knowledge)

10. Kevin Spacey – @kevinspacey (Academy Award winner, amazing actor/director and all-round great guy. Synergy became even bigger fans this week….)

Fire up the popcorn, put the coffee pot on the boil and drag the duvet to the sofa. Or else, catch-up on Monday…

By Lucie Bartlett on February 25th, 2011

Tags: Film, FollowFriday, Oscars, Social Media, Twitter

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The 10th ICC Cricket World Cup launched yesterday with a multimillion pound opening ceremony including a good old croon from that well known cricket lover (?!) Bryan Adams. I have to say I am in total agreement with Dan Jones about Bryan not quite fitting the bill, but at least the weather didn’t destroy the shindig.

The spotlight is well and truly on the ICC after last week’s tribunal found Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir guilty of corruption. Match fixing is not something anyone in sport wants to see, so the question is: what is the ICC doing ahead of this tournament to stop corruption?

BBC Sport Editor David Bond best summaries the latest measures on his blog. To combat the problem the ICC has introduced the following rules ahead of the World Cup:

•     It has changed its rules on “communication devices” during the 45 days of the World Cup. This is longhand for a Twitter ban and is designed to stop players tweeting potentially valuable inside information on a match before they arrive at the ground

•     There will be a ban on laptops for players, with team management limited to four per dressing room and only one allowed to be connected to the internet

•     Security officials will be given broader powers to monitor players, although the ICC is not going into any more detail on this as they don’t want to alert the fixers

My personal opinion is that attempting to hinder players’ access to social media outlets, such as Twitter, is not going to stop corruption but then I’m also hoping there is a lot more than just a Twitter ban going on behind the scenes to ensure the illegal gambling cartels are being closed down.

And for those Twitter fans amongst us, I really hope that the match fixers haven’t destroyed our access to some of the funniest Tweeters in the sporting arena. For the next installment of our Follow Friday Twitter specials, here are my favourite follows in the cricket world:

The players:

•     Graeme Swann – @swannyg66 A true Twitter and cricket legend – Head Boy

•     Jimmy Anderson – @JimmyAnderson9 Often the butt of many Swanny jokes but really is Head Prefect

•     Tim Bresnan – @TimBresnan Telling you like it is

•     Kevin Pietersen – @kevinpp24 Conned by a naughty EBay phoney but bailed out by Chairman of the Governors, Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan)

•     Stuart Broad – @StuartBroad8 The school sweetheart

•     Steve Finny – @finnysteve The new boy on the Twitter block, picked on by the Twitter ‘sixth formers’

The TMS team:

•     Jonathan Agnew – @aggerscricket Geek turned unsuspecting cool kid in the Twittersphere – he snared Lily Allen (@lilyroseallen) – credit where credit’s due!

•     Alison Mitchell – @AlisonMitchell Everyone’s favourite lady in the common room (press box)

•     Malcolm Ashton – @tmsscorer Bridges the cricket/rugby gap: his nephew is swallow-diving rugby hero Chris

•     Adam Mountford – @tmsproducer

•     Emma Agnew – @MrsAggers The Yummy Mummy

The snappers (photographers to the uninitiated):

•     Gareth Copley – @GarethCopley

•     Phillip Brown – @dudleyplatypus

•     Tom Shaw – @tomshaw72

Best of the media rest:

•     David Lloyd – @BumbleCricket

•     Tim Abraham – @skysportsmrtim

•     Lawrence Booth – @the_topspin

•     Dean Wilson – @CricketMirror

•     John Etheridge – @JohnSunCricket

By Caroline Ayling on February 18th, 2011

Tags: Cricket, FollowFriday, Social Media, Twitter, World Cup

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If you’re a regular visitor to the Synergy website you’ll be aware that we love to Tweet! From Twitter’s early days, the Synergy clan has embraced the micro-blogging site for both client and company work. We’ve introduced the likes of @philtufnell to the site and now use Twitter to source and assist journalists, engage ambassadors, share client campaigns and set the sponsorship news agenda.

Well, in true Twitter fashion we’re starting a bit of a #FollowFriday blog theme and I’m kicking off with a special rugby edition ahead of this weekend’s RBS 6 Nations. It’s a top 10 list for now but is by no means exhaustive so please feel free to add to the list in the comments box below.

Rugby Media Types:

1.    Paul Morgan – @rugbyworldmag

2.    Alex Lowe – @alexmlowe

3.    Jill Douglas – @JillADouglas

4.    Andrew Cotter – @MrAndrewCotter

5.    Ian Stafford – @sportsvibe

6.    Nick Heath – @rugbymedia

7.    Gabby Logan – @Gabby_Logan

8.    Gavin Mairs  – @gavinmairs

9.    Alastair Eykyn – @5LiveRugby

10.   Ian Chadband – @ianchad_tele

Clubs and Competitions:

1.    Official RBS 6 Nations – @rbs_6_nations

2.    Premiership Rugby – @premrugby

3.    RFU – @Official_RFU

4.    Scottish Rugby – @ScottishRugby

5.    WRU – @WelshRugbyUnion

6.    Northampton Saint – @SaintsRugby

7.    Harlequins – @QuinsRugbyUnion

8.    Leicester Tigers – @LeicesterTigers

9.    Saracens – @Saracens

10.   Irish Rugby Union – @irfurugby

Players – on and off the pitch:

1.    Lee Byrne – @LeeByrne_15

2.    Lewis Moody – @LewisMoody7

3.    Will Greenwood – @GreenwoodRugby

4.    Ugo Monye – @ugomonye

5.    Shane Williams – @shanewilliams11

6.    Will Carling – @willcarling

7.    Danny Care – @dannycare9

8.    Tommy Bowe – @tommybowe14

9.    Ben Foden – @ben_foden

10.   Matt Dawson – @matt9dawson

If you want to follow any of the Synergy twitterati you can find us here.

Keep your eyes peeled for more #FollowFriday themed Synergy blogs…

By Caroline Ayling on February 11th, 2011

Tags: FollowFriday, Media, RBS 6 Nations, Rugby, Social Media, Twitter

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