Social Media lessons
from space for
destination Earth
Presented at the Social Media Tourism Symposium #SoMeT14EU in Rovaniemi, Finland, April 2014
Remco Timmermans - @timmermansr
Space is not a
destination.
It is a destiny
In the beginning,
there was a race…
photo credit: RIA Novosti
Public heroes of the 1960’s
The Mercury 7
Yuri Gagarin
photo credit: NASA
Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins
Cernan, Stafford, Young
photo credit: NASA
Public interest disappeared
even quicker than NASA’s budget!
135 missions that nobody
knew cared about…
except when
things go wrong…
photo credit: NASA History Office
STS-1, Space Shuttle Columbia, 12 April 1981 Flight #1
STS-51L, Space Shuttle Challenger, 28 January 1986
photo credit: NASA
Flight #25
STS-107, Space Shuttle Columbia, 1 February 2003
photo credit: NASA
Flight #113
photo credit: Javier Pedreira
STS-135, Space Shuttle Atlantis, 8 July 2011 Flight #135
The end of the space program?
image credit: XCOR photo credit: SpaceX
image credit: MarsOne
No! Space has never been cooler than today!
ISS passing over the International Space University, France, July 2013
#spacetweeps
to the rescue…
The first tweet from space!
photo credit: bunnicula
2009: The first #NASATweetup
Feeding the space
ambassadors
2011 #STS135 #NASATweetup
6,000 registrations
for 150 spots
100+ #NASASocial events
over 3,000 participants
ph
oto
cre
dit
: NA
SA/A
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Gem
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ani
photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingals
Brand ambassadors for life, 100 at a time…
6.4 million
followers
3.6 million
page followers
300 million+
views 32 channels
900,000 subscribers
187 million views
800,000
followers
6,800 photos
18 TV channels,
always live!
600,000
followers
19,000
followers
Going Global: 2011 ESA/DLR #spacetweetup
Local flavours: #CNEStweetup
Bringing space to you
When the community
takes over…
15 days
15,229 posts
42.3 million impressions
#ThingsNASAMightTweet
Co-creation
Crowdsourcing
@SpaceApps
Storytelling
“Space Oddity” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo
#WakeUpRosetta: How to turn
technology into public excitement
Giving technology a face
Engaging the public
photo credit: ESA
From boring engineering stuff…
…to a personality
…and human emotion!
Lessons from space
for destination Earth
summary
#1 – Take social media seriously
#2 – Create a sense of pride
#3 – Feed the ambassadors
#4 – Tell stories
#5 – Make it personal
Thank You!
@TimmermansR
@TravelsInOrbit
@WorldSpaceWeek
