Yes, the Queen is on Facebook. It was inevitable and we should have seen it coming ever since she addressed the world on Youtube. If only I had been smart enough to snatch up www.facebook.com/thebritishmonarchy I could have made a small sum, or even owned an unofficial monarchy page.

Engagement you ask? Not the Prince William type (and we actually did write this just before Prince William announced his engagement to Kate Middleton today), the other kind of engagement. The British Monarchy engaging their audiences who spend their time in Facebook, and whom are getting a very warm welcome.

It’s been about two weeks and at a last count there have been hundreds of thousands of followers that have “liked” them. Depending on how Prince William and Kate use this new medium to communicate with Royal fans, the potential for followers is exponential.

Although expected, I was caught by surprise by a small, tiny comment on the homepage in the haiku-like “about me” box. “Please note that any offensive comments will be deleted”.

A question asked by many companies and organisations when setting up a Facebook page, is whether or not to delete negative comments. Now interestingly enough, the posting to wall functionality has been disabled, however what the general public can do, is comment on a royal post.

Perhaps in one of the most engaging mediums of all time, the general public has a desire to comment on these pictures, most likely posted by someone in a position of relatively high responsibility at an advertising agency or a digital media agency.

As you can see from the posting, these fans are engaging in a genuine and utmost authentic way. “What a thrill” to see my favorite actresses receiving MBE’s as noted by Stuart Parkinson for the world to see.

“I wonder what the joke was” asks Sean Schilke. Is the ability to comment on pictures and activities of the Royal family strengthening people’s brand association with the Monarchy?

At least the new Royal wind farm developments can fund the room full of people who will spend every waking hour reviewing each and every last comment, deleting the offensive comments. It will be very interesting to see the how many people will grow to “like” the royal family, and whether or not it will contribute to national and international “liking” of the Monarchy.

No one can deny Facebook’s global dominance, but you may know a little about the other F word in social media, Foursquare.

The other less popular F word, Foursquare has been gaining popularity for a few years, but Facebook’s new Places feature will challenge Foursquare to attract new users and create true differentiation between themselves and their other F word competitor.

TechCrunch noted that 20% of Foursquare users are currently having their “check-ins” automatically updated on their Facebook feed, increasing the collaboration opportunities for any organisations currently on engaging with their audiences Facebook.

Who exactly uses Foursquare? According to Quantcast, in the US the Foursquare audience is 58% male, with 33% from 18-34 and 25% from 35-49. 82% of US users are caucasian and 65% have a college or graduate degree. Although UK stats haven’t yet surfaced, Foursquare is being harnessed by small businesses in the UK interesting ways.  In one example, a tea room in Brighton held the first “swarm” party, where 50 people gathered together, and had to check in online while physically being in that location to unlock the “swarm” badge. The tea room saw more than 250 mentions in social media in the next 24 hours. The real life Sims game allows you to collect various badges for checking in under various circumstances and completing challenges.

What does this mean for your brand? If your brand personality is fun, adventurous and cutting edge, then it’s only appropriate that you make the most of this complimentary social environment. More importantly, if your customers are wandering around your towns and cities and are on foursquare, make sure they don’t miss you.

Firstly, if you have a real life location, whether an office or storefront, it’s never too early to claim your foursquare real estate. After verification, within 10 minutes you can have a simple, no-frills Foursquare presence where your engaged customers can “check-in”. This maintenance free claim ensures that you’re not missing out if your audience is battling their friends for the most badges. If after a few weeks or months you notice that your customers are “checking-in”, then you can explore other opportunities, perhaps offer specials or create challenges for your clients and customers, but do not let these suggestions intimidate you. Stop reading this right now, grab a jpeg of your logo or a picture of your storefront, and go register for Foursquare!

Well, it’s finally here. Google is now integrating real-time results from Twitter, Facebook and Myspace into it’s search, giving users the most update information on any given subject. This is sure to give social media a real awareness boost amongst those yet to embrace them, especially Twitter.

Watch this short video about Google real-time search:

What does this mean for brands and marketers?

Although in constant use by the technorati and celebrities galore, Twitter has yet to fully enter the mainstream. As marketers we know the potential of Twitter to reach out and engage, but for most people, its still an unknown. At MTD, we look to create innovative ways of integrating Twitter into our campaigns. Our recent Christmas campaign for Jarlsberg allows anyone to post a message about their best bit of Christmas on the Jarlsberg Sweet and Nutty Season website via Twitter. This encourages a deeper interaction with the brand and keeps the website fresh and interesting.

Real-time search will also encourage brands to start using Twitter more as a channel in its own right to promote products and services. Twitter, of course, knows this. It’s soon to launch a set of paid for business services which should hopefully make it a more professional tool for marketers.

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So the government wants access to Facebook because it claims terrorists might be using it. I just think Gordon Brown wants the biggest list of friends on Facebook so he can pretend people like him. He won’t be getting a hug from me.