Berlin, 7 November 2014 Berlin is marking a quarter century since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the world can join in live: On the weekend of 7–9 November 2014, the visitBerlin social media team will be providing comprehensive reports of the events with the hashtag #Bln25YearsLater. Burkhard Kieker, CEO visitBerlin: “People from around the world are showing interest in the anniversary of the Wall’s fall. All of the world’s Berlin fans can participate in real time through the social media channels of visitBerlin and our hashtag #Bln25YearsLater”.

This is the first time that visitBerlin has covered an event so extensively at the same time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and its own blogs. The team will provide real-time storytelling as they report live from the main sites where commemoration activities are taking place. These will tours along the Border of Light and the East Side Gallery and the “Time Travel” exhibition on Pariser Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The highlight will be the release of the balloons Sunday night at 7 o’clock. The 8,000 balloons that make up the “Border of Light” along the more than 15 km former course of the Wall in the city centre will be released into the Berlin night sky.

More Facebook fans than New York

Not only are the numbers of people visiting Berlin on the rise, the German capital is also growing in online popularity: The “Berlin – the place to be” Facebook page operated by visitBerlin and be Berlin currently has more than 1.7 million fans. Only Paris has more (2.3 million). In comparison: New York and Rio de Janeiro only have 1.2 million fans each. The English-language Twitter account @BerlinTourism has 17,000 followers, mostly from abroad.

25 Years, 25 Stories – Press Service Marking the Anniversary

In addition, visitBerlin is offering journalists a special service to mark the anniversary: a total of 25 articles provide an overview and story suggestion for their reporting on Berlin. What makes Berlin so fascinating? How do people see the German capital today? How have Berliners taken advantage of this historic opportunity? These articles give answers and introduce some interesting people. All of the articles published to date can be accessed here.

All Social Media Channels at a Glance

www.facebook.com/Berlin

www.facebook.com/visitBerlin

www.twitter.com/visitBerlin

www.twitter.com/BerlinTourism

www.blog.visitBerlin.de

www.instagram.com/visit_berlin

Hashtag für Twitter, Facebook und Instagram: #BLN25YearsLater

Extensive press materials are available at wall.visitBerlin.com .