英國女王伊麗莎白二世(Queen Elizabeth II)如今也成為了微博客服務Twitter的用戶。

英國皇室網站上周五表示，英國皇室已經在Twitter上開設了一個“皇家Twitter”賬戶，將由英國白金漢宮和克拉倫斯宮(Clarence House) 的網絡團隊負責使用。截至周六晚，該帳戶已經吸引到2000多個追隨者。

據英國皇室官方網站稱：“該帳戶將向追隨者發布皇室活動和宣布的聲明等信息。”

Twitter已經吸引到其他很多名人前來開設賬戶，包括流行歌手布蘭妮·斯皮爾斯(Britney Spears)、美國總統巴拉克·奧巴馬(Barack Obama)、脫口秀主持人奧普拉·溫弗瑞(Oprah Winfrey)以及上周剛剛卸任的阿拉斯加州長莎拉·佩林(Sarah Palin)等。

據市場調研機構ComScore稱，截至今年5月，Twitter在美國預計擁有1760萬名用戶，較上年同期增長了超過26倍。

Twitter創建于2006年，用戶可以在網站上發布不超過140個字符的信息以及圖片或其他網站的鏈接。

英國皇室發布的Twitter信息還包括溫莎城堡衛兵更換以及女王在白金漢宮為其他人授爵等信息。

Queen's Twitter account attracts 2,000 followers

Twitter, known for celebrity gossip, drunken messages and non-standard English, is now also home to Queen Elizabeth.

The British monarchy has started what it called a "Royal Twitter" account that will be run by the web teams at royal residences Buckingham Palace and Clarence House, according to its website.

By Saturday evening, the Twitter account had more than 2,000 followers.

"The account will update followers on Royal engagements and announcements," according to the monarchy's website.

Twitter has attracted other well-known figures, including pop star Britney Spears, U. S. President Barack Obama, talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and Sarah Palin, who resigned as governor of Alaska last week.

It drew an estimated 17.6 million users in the U. S. in May, a more than 27-fold increase from a year earlier.

Twitter Inc., founded in 2006, lets users post messages, or tweets, of up to 140 characters.

The San Francisco-based service also allows users to attach links to photos or other websites.

The monarchy's tweets included the changing of the guard at Windsor Castle and the Queen knighting someone at Buckingham Palace.

（Source: The Calgary Herald，英國使館文化教育處提供）