Tweeting the Glastonbury Festival

Monday, 1 July 2013

The return of the legendary Glastonbury festival this weekend saw an incredible lineup of artists take the stage for Britain’s biggest music event.

While the Arctic Monkeys, Rolling Stones and Mumford and Sons headlined the Pyramid Stage, Twitter became the second screen to the festival, with #Glastonbury trending in the UK and worldwide.

From the festival revelers on Worthy Farm to people watching at home or on the move, Twitter brought fans all over the world closer to the action. At its peak, nine of the 10 UK trends on Saturday night related to the festival. Here’s a chart showing how the conversation on Twitter reflected the pulse of the festival’s headline acts:

The first glimpses of the synchronicity between Twitter and the festival started back in May with the @GlastoFest team using Vine to show how the site was coming together:

The team ran a number of official accounts that took followers around the site throughout the weekend showing highlights of the festival:

Also this year for the first time ever, a dedicated Twitter account was set up to give real time help to festival goers:

The BBC broadcast the festival with field-to-field coverage of the action, and used Twitter to bring the crowd at home closer the experience:

It wasn’t just the organisers and broadcasters who made great use of the platform. Artists took to Twitter to keep fans updated as to the latest news, including:

Chuck D updating fans on his missing bandmate:

Rudimental keeping the party going:

Sharing the build-up to a big set:

And even celebrating a collaboration:

And of course thanking the crowd:

The Pyramid Stage on Saturday played host to the Rolling Stones’ Glastonbury debut. Band members @MickJagger, @OfficialKeef and @RonnieWood used Twitter to build excitement for their headline set:

During the set, the official account kept Twitter users around the world up to date by live tweeting the songs, reactions and photo:

And of course Twitter was the best place to get the reaction from those on the ground at Worthy Farm:

As well as those watching at home:

We even saw fans presenting special gifts to the Glastonbury stars covered in fan’s Twitter @handles, such as this T-shirt for @Example:

 A mug for @HAIMtheband:

The stars themselves:

And even on a cake!

And when organiser Emily Eavis (@EmilyEavis) wanted to send her thanks to festival goers, it was fitting that at the end of what was dubbed the most digital Glastonbury ever, she chose Twitter to send her message: