ITV

Tag: Barack Obama

  • Narendra Modi-the third most followed world leader Twitter account

    Narendra Modi-the third most followed world leader Twitter account

    MUMBAI: Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi is now the third most followed world leader on Twitter after overtaking Indonesian President S B Yudhoyono today.

     
    Modi (https://twitter.com/narendramodi) has around 5,087,980 followers to Yodoyono’s- 5,08743 followers (https://twitter.com/SBYudhoyono) as of 1pm IST today. Only the President of the United States Barack Obama and the Pope have more followers on Twitter.

     
    This shows how Mr Modi has been actively using Twitter to connect with the masses reinforcing the tool of digital diplomacy in a larger context making the social media platform a powerful channel for communicating and engaging with all Indians across the country.

     
    There were nearly 60 million elections-related Tweets during the Lok Sabha elections this year. Narendra Modi was the top elections-related term on Twitter during the entire polling period, more than AAP and INC combined. On Counting Day itself, Narendra Modi and BJP accounted for over half of the 2 million elections-related Tweets. His Twitter account (@narendramodi) has grown by more than 1 million followers since his election win, while the official account of the Prime Minister’s office (@PMOIndia) has grown more than 40% since his swearing-in ceremony. , His election victory Tweet remains the most retweeted Tweet of all time from India.

  • Seth MacFarlane’s Cosmos documentary to premiere at White House Film Festival

    Seth MacFarlane’s Cosmos documentary to premiere at White House Film Festival

    MUMBAI: On Friday, February 28, the White House is hosting the first-ever Student Film Festival, featuring the work of more than a dozen young filmmakers who created short films celebrating the role of technology in the classroom.

     

    The Filmmaker-in-Chief, President Barack Obama was at Buck Lodge to celebrate progress on ConnectED when he recorded the video on his iPad. ConnectED is an ambitious project to connect 99% of American students to next-generation broadband and wireless technology within five years. In Adelphi, he announced that some of America’s largest companies answered the President’s call to action towards that goal by pledging more than $750 million in commitments to deliver cutting-edge technologies to classrooms, including devices, free software, teacher professional development, and home wireless connectivity.

     

    Building on the President’s eagerness to connect students to technology, and his newfound interest in filmmaking, The White House excited to host the first-ever White House Student Film Festival. In November, we called for Kindergarten to 12th grade students around the country to create short films on the role of technology in their classroom, and students responded with nearly 3,000 entries. In collaboration with the American Film Institute, the White House will screen the finalists’ works this Friday along with a star-studded cast including Kal Penn, Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Conan O’Brien.

     

    In addition to the celebration of the student films and the President’s remarks, FOX and National Geographic Channel will treat the attendees to a sneak peek of the first episode of the upcoming television series, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a US documentary executive produced by Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy, Ted, The Cleveland Show) which celebrates the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

  • Show Business personalities dominate Twitter all over the globe

    Show Business personalities dominate Twitter all over the globe

    NEW DELHI: Singers Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, and Shakira feature among the top ten followed celebrities on Twitter.

     

    Twitter was launched with an idea to update statuses and interact on cyber space with a limitation of 140 characters but has become a sensation of its own kind, according to the Pakistani ‘More Magazine’.

     

    American President Barack Obama is the only non-show business personality in the top ten list and the tenth place is held by footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. The top ten are:

     

        Justin Bieber 19 year old singing sensation holds number 1 spot on twitter with 46 million followers.

        Katy Perry the girl who shot to fame with Teenage Dream holds 2nd place with 45.7 million followers

        Lady Gaga Exotic singer and performer who has set a whole new standard with her live performance holds third largest number of followers with 40.3 million fans

        Barack Obama Only non-showbiz personality in the list is the current US President Barack Husain Obama with 38.7 million followers.

        Taylor Swift Beautiful singing diva who had shown vast talent in country and pop singing currently resides on fifth spot with 35.7 million followers

        Britney Spears A star of her own kind, who recently made a comeback with her sensational Criminal has 33.2 million followers on Twitter.

        Justin Timberlake A guy who fascinated us first with his songs and now with his acting skills has 27.5 million followers.

        Jenifer Lopez Known as Jlo, this singer-actress holds 24.7 million followers,

        Shakira – A singer who used to sizzles her performances with Belly dancing is having 22.5 millions following her Twitter feeds.

        Cristiano Ronaldo Footballer from Portugal who also appears in various ads nowadays makes it at number 10 with 22 million followers

     

  • Obama nominates Tom Wheeler as next FCC chairman

    Obama nominates Tom Wheeler as next FCC chairman

    MUMBAI: US President Barack Obama has nominated Tom Wheeler, a technology investor and former head of two major trade associations, as the next chairman of the media watchdog Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

     

    Obama announced Wheeler’s nomination at the White House and joked, “Wheeler is the only member of both the cable television and the wireless industry hall of fame. So he’s like the Jim Brown of telecom or the Bo Jackson of telecom”.

     

    If the US Senate approves Wheeler’s nomination, he will replace outgoing chairman Julius Genachowski, who had announced in March that he would step down from his post after four years. Until the Senate vote occurs, democratic commissioner Mignon Clyburn will serve as FCC interim chairwoman after Genachowski leaves in the middle of the month.

     

    National Association of Broadcasters (Nab) president and CEO Gordon Smith said, “Nab welcomes the nomination of Tom Wheeler as chairman of the FCC. He has the experience and temperament to serve the agency with distinction, and we look forward to working with him.”

     

    Meanwhile AT&T has called Wheeler an inspired pick, saying that his high intelligence, broad experience, and in-depth knowledge of the industry may, in fact, make him one of the most qualified people ever named to run the agency.

  • How celebrities should use Twitter

    How celebrities should use Twitter

    MUMBAI: Twitter might limit its users to a 140 characters but it isn’t just a tool to make small talk!

    Despite its popularity, not every celebrity seems to have used the platform effectively. Recently, Sylvester Stallone and Megan Fox decided to skip tweeting, calling this a futile effort to connect with fans.

    This resulted in a destruction of a perfect bridge between these actors and their fans, causing them to lose out on a substantially large audience online: a loss not echoed by Twitter.

    Little did Sylvester and Megan know that the micro-blogging platform has worked wonders for several celebrities online including Justin Bieber, the teenage pop sensation, who currently enjoys the love of 33,931,436 fans on Twitter; Britney Spears, the American singer and entertainer, currently has 23,639,424 fans; and Lady Gaga has 33,760,113 followers.

    Twitter is the perfect platform between celebrities and their fans because it allows direct communication. This gives fans the opportunity to read tweets by their favourite personalities in real-time. Also, this communication isn’t one-way, since celebrities too can have a peek at what their fans think about them and respond as and when they wish. Besides celebrities, prominent world figures including Barack Obama and His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI are also active on the micro-blogging platform.

    Quitting Twitter shows a lack of understanding of the power of social media platforms on a celebrity’s part. Their inability to adapt to it could be cited as a reason for this shift away from the platform.

    It’s only a matter of time until every celebrity and world figure understands the true potential of connecting with their audiences online while realising the importance of staying in touch with the quickly transitioning world of technology.

    It seems like Megan and Sylvester will be at loss in the long-run, having quit Twitter; certainly not the other way around!

  • Al Pacino to receive National Medal of Arts

    Al Pacino to receive National Medal of Arts

    MUMBAI: US President Barack Obama will present Al Pacino the 2011 National Medal of Arts at the White House on Monday.

    Pacino, who starred in Dog Day Afternoon, The Godfather trilogy and Scarface, will receive the medal for his contributions as an actor and director of American film and theatre.

    TOther honorees for the National Medal of Arts include names like Will Barnet (painter), Rita Dove (poet), Emily Rauh Pulitzer (curator/philanthropist), Martin Puryear (sculptor), Mel Tillis (music vet), Andre Watts (pianist) and the United Service Organization.

    Additionally, the 2011 National Humanities Medal will also be presented to Kwame Anthony Appiah, John Asbery, Robert Darnton, Andrew Delbanco, Charles Rosen, Teofilo Ruiz, Ramon Saldivar, Amartya Sen and National History Day.

  • CNN unveils coverage plans for Obama’s inauguration

    CNN unveils coverage plans for Obama’s inauguration

    MUMBAI: CNN will screen the inauguration of US President-elect Barack Obama. Airing on 20 January 2009 from 3.30 pm, the coverage includes the swearing-in ceremony at 10.30 pm and the inauguration parade.

     

    The Inauguration of Barack Obama will kick off with live programming from Capitol Hill from 3.30 pm. Beginning at 8.30 pm, CNN’s coverage location will move to the Newseum where Blitzer and Cooper will be joined by senior political analysts Gloria Borger and David Gergen. Chief national correspondent John King will transport the network’s Magic Wall to a balcony inside the Newseum in order to illustrate traffic and hotspots around Washington. Also reporting from the Newseum, Campbell Brown will cover the day’s events and will moderate a panel with members of CNN’s Best Political Team on Television.

     

    The Inauguration of Barack Obama will continue with a special edition of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer on 21 January from 2.30 am to 5.30 am, which will include live coverage of the parade, as well as a recap of the day’s events. From 5.30 am to 10.30 am Campbell Brown and Anderson Cooper will continue live from Washington DC, with a special edition of Anderson Cooper 360? which will include live reporting from the 10 official inaugural balls. Larry King will then host a special edition of Larry King Live from the Washington, D.C. bureau from 10.30 am to 11.30 am.