Today sees the official announcement that Bubbly, the worlds leading voice blogging service (or social network), has launched in the UK.  With 20 million fans across the world, it’s hitting our shores with all-new celebrities, including football superstar Rio Ferdinand.

If you haven’t come across the service before, here is some more info.  Bubbly allows users to share short voice updates, or “Bubbles” with friends and followers, while applying fun filters to their recordings (think instagram for your voice). Along with the service’s UK rollout, Rio Ferdinand’s exclusive content will be available for Bubbly users around the world, including countries such as Japan, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Rio Ferdinand’s use of Bubbly to update his fans came to light last week as he starting using the app ahead of last weekends Liverpool clash.  He updated his 3.7m fans about his message before announcing officially on Friday about his official page.

Bubbly allows celebrities like Ferdinand to authentically represent themselves, using their own voice. On other social media sites, it’s common for communications managers to take over a celebrity’s account, which removes the personal touch that Bubbly users value. People can follow the voices of celebrities, sports stars, and other well-known users on Bubbly in a special way, as if listening to a close friend leaving a voicemail.

“I love showing support for my fans, and Bubbly lets me connect with them in a way that I’ve never been able to before,” says Man United’s Ferdinand. “Voice updates bring a fresh way for me to have a dialogue with my fans and I’ve been having a lot of fun posting recordings and playing with the filters.”

“We’re excited to bring such a fun and useful way of communicating with friends, family, and followers to Europe for the very first time. Having popular celebrities like Rio Ferdinand joining the service early on is great, because users will get to experience the Bubbly difference in the celebrity/fan connection right off the bat,” says Thomas Clayton, CEO of Bubble Motion.

Bubbly is based in Singapore and has built up it’s impressive following in the Asian market (Japan, India and Indonesia), this being it’s first step outside of its core area.  There are a number of celebrities who use the app on a regular basis with the biggest being Indian actor Bachchan who has almost 800k followers.  Rio has some way to go with just over 1000 since he started posting last week.

Whilst not an official ‘celeb’ partner, Rio’s former teammate and current Everton captain Phil Neville has started using the service.  He started by giving his plans for the day and welcoming fans to his new updates.  Lets see if he soon appears next to Rio on the ‘Premium Celebrities’ section.

It recently launched a new version of its iOS app, which allows users to spice up their voice posts by applying cool filters like “Helium,” “Echo Chamber,” and “Synth.”.  Users simply record their message on their iPhone, choose a filter to revamp the sound and vibe, and post to their account to share with friends, fans, and followers. The newest version of Bubbly includes a larger selection of filters, including “Applause” and “Laughing”.

The service is being helped with it’s UK launch by partnering with top consultancy MD Media, who specialise in two main areas: new media consultancy and content rights. Its media consultancy arm helps companies navigate the constantly evolving mobile content and marketing space, and the other focuses on delving into its vast network of companies and connecting various parties to help brands find the right platforms for content distribution. Some of the company’s recent clients include Liverpool, Arsenal, and Chelsea Football Clubs, 2ergo, and IGT.

“We’re excited to be working closely with Bubble Motion as the service’s rapidly growing user base makes it a great outlet for many sports stars to connect with their fan base in the UK and Asia,” says MD Media Managing Director, Michael Dunphy.

You can download the Bubbly app on iPhone or Android here: http://bubbly.net/.