James Bond Launches Social Media Presence in Conjunction with Movie Announcement

After months of unsubstantiated rumors about “Bond 23,” the next installment of the James Bond franchise starring Daniel Craig, Sony Pictures held a press conference earlier today with director Sam Mendes, Craig, and other members of the film’s cast to officially announce the particulars of 007’s next adventure. What’s more, the studio announced it in conjunction with the launch of an official James Bond Twitter and Facebook page. Hit the jump to find out how the pages have been used thus far and if I think this might be the start of a viral campaign for the film.

The UK film website HeyUGuys was in attendance at the press conference and live-blogged the event, so head over there for the full scoop, but for those unaware, here are the most important details about the movie:

• The title of the film is Skyfall, which has been rumored across the net for the last couple weeks
• Shooting begins TODAY in London, with additionally announced locales including Scotland and Istanbul
• Javier Barden was confirmed to be the main baddie, and Ralph Fiennes, Ben Wishaw, Albert Finney, and Naomi Harris were also confirmed to the cast
• The film will stand on its own, meaning there are no major narrative connections to Craig’s first two Bond films

Although I wasn’t awake for the press conference itself (it was held in London), it appears the James Bond Twitter profile and Facebook page posted information from the event as it happened. Even more, a brief synopsis of the film was posted to the franchise’s Twitter profile exclusively soon after the event ended:

In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

Judging by the provided synopsis and details from the press conference, including the fact that this Bond film will stand alone and not carry any of the narrative of the last two films, particularly everything concerning Quantum (an entity I still don’t really understand), I see some major viral potential for the film. Sony may view this story as a fresh start of sorts, and can leverage that using its social networks to build up hype over the next year, teasing audiences who now have no clue what to expect. They already gave us a great nugget by posting the synopsis as a Twitter exclusive. I am curious to see what comes next.

You can “like” the official Bond Facebook page here. You can follow 007’s Twitter adventures @007. Be sure to check out Skyfall when it is released in theaters in the United States on November 9, 2012.