Liverpool's daily titles pulled out all the stops to deliver multimedia coverage of the launch of the city's year as European Capital of Culture.

As 50,000 people packed the city centre for a 40-minute launch show, journalists were busy packaging the news in a variety of formats.

By 11pm that evening, video footage, pictures and copy from the event was uploaded onto Liverpool Echo and Liverpool Daily Post Capital of Culture micro sites, followed by extensive print coverage the following day.

Friday's celebrations were followed by another bash at the Echo-sponsored Echo Arena which saw the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in action, watched by 10,000 people.

And both newspapers are maintaining extensive online photo galleries of the celebrations.

Readers have been quick to make their own contribution, uploading more than 500 pictures to the Post's Capital of Culture page on photo-sharing website Flickr within the space of a week.

Post deputy editor Alison Gow said: "For us, Capital of Culture was always about what comes afterwards.

"It can't just be a great year-long party and then everyone wakes up in January next year and thinks, 'same old', it has got to make a difference."

The Post ran an eight-page City of Culture pullout published on Monday before its sister title's own supplement hit the streets in the evening.

The Echo plans to profile an influential Liverpudlian each day of the year in its series of so-called 'Scouserati' as well as covering the extensive programme of Capital of Culture events, such as the MTV Awards in November.