NASA Socials:
An out of this
world journey
By Nicole Solomon and Tim Breitbach
N
eil Armstrong wasn’t the only person who took
a giant leap in space. Over the course of the
last several decades, humanity has reached
further into space than ever before. But one of our
most astonishing achievements is actually just over our
heads – the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS is
an unprecedented partnership between governments,
agencies and commercial entities – a leap many never
thought possible. And yet, if the astonishing exploration,
technology, experiments and scientific discoveries do not
trickle down to the taxpayers funding such adventures, what’s
the point? That is where NASA Socials come into play.
NASA Socials take advantage of the reach of today’s
vibrant social media platforms to bring the science
and exploration of space down to Earth, in a way
that is as informative as it is engaging. Events are
designed to allow individuals to interact with
people and processes to which they might
otherwise never have access. And in doing so,
NASA makes space accessible to the people
who most find it fascinating. NASA held its first
social media event, a Tweetup, at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California,
in January of 2009. Since then, thousands of
participants have generated social content
Garan
seen by hundreds of millions of people.
“Social media has changed the way NASA
communicates with the public,” said Bob Jacobs,
NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Communications.
“It allows us to connect directly with people. Historically,
the traditional media has acted as a filter in disseminating
information about our activities. As news organizations limit
or eliminate space beat reporters, we’ve seen an explosion
in technology that allows us to create conversations directly
with the public. It’s fascinating to see and experience.”
This past February, Washington, D.C. held its second annual
Social Media Week, a festival featuring independently
curated speakers, panels, workshops and parties celebrating
tech and social media. The ISS Science Social was designed
to spread the word about the groundbreaking research
currently taking place aboard the football-field sized
structure, some 240 miles above Earth. During the event, 150
of NASA’s social media followers had the unique opportunity
“The view of Earth
from space really gives
the sense that the planet
is a living, breathing
organism.”
- Ron
www.RocketSTEM.org
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