Twitter Welcomes the Duke of York, First Royal on Twitter

Prince Andrew is a now a ‘tweep’, a term used to describe the subscribers of popular social network Twitter. Prince Andrew opened his account on Monday and was largely welcomed by thousands of network users. The Royal Family did not get caught up in the social network hype in an individual capacity. BBC News reported that the first time the royals went on Facebook, additional security had to be added to screen the posts and comments made by others.

Twitter is a microblogging platform where subscribers have 140 characters to stay connected to their followers. Twitter subscribers gain followers by tweeting often and generating content that is interesting. Scandalous behaviour is another way to gain followers on Twitter but it seems that being a member of the Royal Family goes a long way too. A day after signing up for Twitter, Prince Andrew has garnered more than twenty thousand followers who look forward to what he has to say.

Besides becoming a ‘tweep’, Prince Andrew made time to launch the Duke of York Award for Technical Education. The launch took place at the new Black Country University Technical College where senior students major in engineering, technology and science modules. It was only fitting that he also embraces technology and its influence on communication.

However, there is one aspect of Prince Andrew’s life that may rain on his Twitter parade and that is his controversial friendship with Jeffrey Epstein who is a known sex offender. Epstein is a wealthy American who was convicted of trying to have sex with an underage child for money. A Twitter subscriber has already tweeted something to this effect: “Yo how’s Jeffrey Epstein?”

Prince Andrew also got a lot of advice about how to get by on ‘Twitter streets’. A television presenter thinks the @TheDukeOfYork account could do with a “more personal touch”. Prince Andrew welcomes the interactions and his spokesperson said: “The duke is a champion of free speech. For him it’s about telling people what he’s doing.” Many people hope that the duke will stay focused on that and will not fall prey to common Twitter scandals.