What does a honey badger do when he has a lot of free time on his paws? He
tweets of course. BG, the world’s first live tweeting badger was first brought to
the attention of Screen African readers in our August issue.
Now, four months later, BG has achieved fame and has more than 11 000
followers on his Twitter page. As the official “spokesbadger’ for the
Johannesburg Zoo, BG tweets about his “noisy neighbours’ (lions), complains
about food he’d rather not eat (slugs), does the occasional weather report,
comments on visitors at the zoo and upcoming events… and even posts
revealing selfies.
Although BG’s tweeting abilities (and spelling) is impressive for a honey badger,
he does have a little help from techno wizards Hellocomputer and Binary Space.
Hellocomputer and a campaign developed by sister agency Draftfcb South Africa,
first introduced BG to the world.
Says Kerry Friend, Hellocomputer executive creative director: “We’re
exceptionally proud of BG. He gained 5 000 followers in 50 tweets during the
first week of his campaign and over 11 000 to date, trending on Twitter while
doing so.
“He has also has garnered a strong international following, been on many major
sites and blogs including Times Live, Huffington Post, NotCot, Best Ads on TV,
BuzzFeed, TED and Perez Hilton, and made the major press, radio and television
appearances worldwide, including ABC News, Fox 2 and 6 and Good Morning
America.
Randall, the mastermind behind YouTube sensation The Crazy Nastyass Honey
Badger, has paid homage to BG and has created a short which documents a day
in BG’s life at the zoo at http://youtu.be/2Cz4uGRGVxA.
To see what kind of tech assistance BG receives, visit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGTptt7iwj8.
Readers can follow BG at @zootweetslive or #tweetingbadger.
