Comments on: Social Media: What’s the point? http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/ Your NASA, My NASA, OUR NASA Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:14:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Speed bumps on the road to a wired White House « Later On http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/comment-page-1/#comment-10903 Speed bumps on the road to a wired White House « Later On Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:10:45 +0000 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/#comment-10903 [...] Web site, open to comments and manned by five agency staffers, and NASA.gov’s numerous social media initiatives, including Twitter feeds from 20 missions and projects. But the successes are rare and isolated. [...] [...] Web site, open to comments and manned by five agency staffers, and NASA.gov’s numerous social media initiatives, including Twitter feeds from 20 missions and projects. But the successes are rare and isolated. [...]

]]> By: The Wired Presidency: Can Obama Really Reboot The White House? | The M Companies http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/comment-page-1/#comment-10489 The Wired Presidency: Can Obama Really Reboot The White House? | The M Companies Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:28:36 +0000 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/#comment-10489 [...] Web site, open to comments and manned by five agency staffers, and NASA.gov’s numerous social media initiatives, including Twitter feeds from 20 missions and projects. But the successes are rare and isolated. [...] [...] Web site, open to comments and manned by five agency staffers, and NASA.gov’s numerous social media initiatives, including Twitter feeds from 20 missions and projects. But the successes are rare and isolated. [...]

]]> By: The Wired Presidency: Can Obama Really Reboot the White House? http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/comment-page-1/#comment-10483 The Wired Presidency: Can Obama Really Reboot the White House? Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:24:12 +0000 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/#comment-10483 [...] Web site, open to comments and manned by five agency staffers, and NASA.gov’s numerous social media initiatives, including Twitter feeds from 20 missions and projects. But the successes are rare and isolated. [...] [...] Web site, open to comments and manned by five agency staffers, and NASA.gov’s numerous social media initiatives, including Twitter feeds from 20 missions and projects. But the successes are rare and isolated. [...]

]]> By: Open NASA » Blog Archive » Future NASA Projects http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/comment-page-1/#comment-10187 Open NASA » Blog Archive » Future NASA Projects Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:22:04 +0000 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/#comment-10187 [...] interesting set of polls came out today on Twitter (See this post if you haven’t joined the Twitter bandwagon yet).  Beth Beck, Space Operations Outreach [...] [...] interesting set of polls came out today on Twitter (See this post if you haven’t joined the Twitter bandwagon yet).  Beth Beck, Space Operations Outreach [...]

]]> By: Open NASA » Blog Archive » Follow > Create > Engage http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/comment-page-1/#comment-9484 Open NASA » Blog Archive » Follow > Create > Engage Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:01:01 +0000 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/#comment-9484 [...] We’re not quite there yet, but each day it seems we get a little closer. Awhile back I posted some thoughts on social media, why we should care, what we could use it for, etc. This post is getting a bit too long, but in a [...] [...] We’re not quite there yet, but each day it seems we get a little closer. Awhile back I posted some thoughts on social media, why we should care, what we could use it for, etc. This post is getting a bit too long, but in a [...]

]]> By: beth http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/comment-page-1/#comment-9287 beth Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:27:39 +0000 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/#comment-9287 I'm still pointing NASA colleagues back to this post. You've done a fab job explaining Twitter, and how this tool can be useful for a new level of communication. Your 11/15/08 Space Vision Powerpoint is top notch, as well. I'm so glad you wear a NASA badge! http://twitter.com/bethbeck I’m still pointing NASA colleagues back to this post. You’ve done a fab job explaining Twitter, and how this tool can be useful for a new level of communication. Your 11/15/08 Space Vision Powerpoint is top notch, as well. I’m so glad you wear a NASA badge!

http://twitter.com/bethbeck

]]> By: Dean http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/comment-page-1/#comment-8804 Dean Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:55:50 +0000 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/#comment-8804 Wow, thanks for the comprehensive and honest review, @marsphoenix was a the mark of a new era in communication. In years to come we will reminisce about following MarsPhoenix. Wow, thanks for the comprehensive and honest review, @marsphoenix was a the mark of a new era in communication. In years to come we will reminisce about following MarsPhoenix.

]]> By: Dave Hromanik http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/comment-page-1/#comment-4109 Dave Hromanik Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:47:50 +0000 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/#comment-4109 The only issue I can see about using non-NASA communication tools is an inability to archive. In this field of space, something that seems irrelevant today can become life-and-death tomorrow and without the ability to archive, precious information will be lost. A WWII-era phrase also comes to mind: loose lips sink ships. The only issue I can see about using non-NASA communication tools is an inability to archive.
In this field of space, something that seems irrelevant today can become life-and-death tomorrow and without the ability to archive, precious information will be lost.
A WWII-era phrase also comes to mind: loose lips sink ships.

]]> By: Rob http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/comment-page-1/#comment-4101 Rob Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:18:05 +0000 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/#comment-4101 In 1997, the New York Times, referring to Mars Pathfinder, ran the headline, "Mars Landing Signals Defining Moment for Web Use" (http://tinyurl.com/62js7e). Its website had about 80 million hits per day for the first few days after the landing, which probably converts to about a million unique visitors. Similarly, the Apollo 11 landing has been called the defining moment for television. It was watched live by about 600 to 750 million people, several orders of magnitude higher than the Pathfinder web audience. Numbers aren't everything, but they do tell a lot, especially to scientists, engineers, and...marketing gurus. As much as I applaud Rhea Borja and the Mars Phoenix team for using an innovative tool like Twitter to share its mission with the public, personally I wouldn't get to excited and obsessed by Twitter until I see a few zeros added to the numbers. While 20,000 "followers" is certainly not *insignificant*, is it something to "phone home about"? ...especially when home is 182 million miles away and the voyage cost some $420 million dollars? The fact that MarsPhoenix is pushing towards the top ten in the "Twitter-sphere" is an accolade for the Phoenix team, but it also points to the fact that none of the top ten users have an audience greater than 50,000 followers. Personally, I have slowly warmed up to Twitter, largely due to Nick's influence...but I still think Twitter is lacking in a number of aspects: 1. By definition, it's not multimedia. 2. It has a somewhat high barrier-to-entry in techie jargon. 3. The twitter.com website itself is not very attractive. This may be my own taste, but I've heard others say the same thing. Again, I do appreciate the Mars Phoenix outreach team for trying something different. But if I were responsible for outreach for a mission, I'd probably focus on other social media outlets that have much larger audiences. Many have twitter-like functionality, in addition to a rich array of multimedia features. The big two are obviously MySpace and Facebook. The Phoenix Lander personality on Facebook is a decent start, but it appears that it is from a non-official source. Where are, for example, the Facebook apps showing the current Mars weather at the landing site (they developed desktop and igoogle widgets afterall)? Or an app that allows me to tour the spacecraft's instrument suite? Where are the animated videos of the landing and the press conferences on Facebook or Myspace? Where are the links to the Facebook/MySpace/etc pages of the MarsPhoenix team members? Anyways, I do like the direction that various NASA mission teams are going as far as innovative outreach...but I think we could go much farther... In 1997, the New York Times, referring to Mars Pathfinder, ran the headline, “Mars Landing Signals Defining Moment for Web Use” (http://tinyurl.com/62js7e). Its website had about 80 million hits per day for the first few days after the landing, which probably converts to about a million unique visitors.

Similarly, the Apollo 11 landing has been called the defining moment for television. It was watched live by about 600 to 750 million people, several orders of magnitude higher than the Pathfinder web audience.

Numbers aren’t everything, but they do tell a lot, especially to scientists, engineers, and…marketing gurus. As much as I applaud Rhea Borja and the Mars Phoenix team for using an innovative tool like Twitter to share its mission with the public, personally I wouldn’t get to excited and obsessed by Twitter until I see a few zeros added to the numbers.

While 20,000 “followers” is certainly not *insignificant*, is it something to “phone home about”? …especially when home is 182 million miles away and the voyage cost some $420 million dollars? The fact that MarsPhoenix is pushing towards the top ten in the “Twitter-sphere” is an accolade for the Phoenix team, but it also points to the fact that none of the top ten users have an audience greater than 50,000 followers.

Personally, I have slowly warmed up to Twitter, largely due to Nick’s influence…but I still think Twitter is lacking in a number of aspects:

1. By definition, it’s not multimedia.
2. It has a somewhat high barrier-to-entry in techie jargon.
3. The twitter.com website itself is not very attractive. This may be my own taste, but I’ve heard others say the same thing.

Again, I do appreciate the Mars Phoenix outreach team for trying something different. But if I were responsible for outreach for a mission, I’d probably focus on other social media outlets that have much larger audiences. Many have twitter-like functionality, in addition to a rich array of multimedia features. The big two are obviously MySpace and Facebook. The Phoenix Lander personality on Facebook is a decent start, but it appears that it is from a non-official source. Where are, for example, the Facebook apps showing the current Mars weather at the landing site (they developed desktop and igoogle widgets afterall)? Or an app that allows me to tour the spacecraft’s instrument suite? Where are the animated videos of the landing and the press conferences on Facebook or Myspace? Where are the links to the Facebook/MySpace/etc pages of the MarsPhoenix team members?

Anyways, I do like the direction that various NASA mission teams are going as far as innovative outreach…but I think we could go much farther…

]]> By: Tim Bailey http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/comment-page-1/#comment-4100 Tim Bailey Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:26:42 +0000 http://www.opennasa.com/2008/06/15/social-media-whats-the-point/#comment-4100 Am I the only one that is showing a bad link to the 'worst practices' article? If not, here it is again: http://www.thezoneread.com/2008/06/12/tell-tale-signs-a-company-does-not-get-social-media/worst-practices/ or http://tinyurl.com/47hlfk Am I the only one that is showing a bad link to the ‘worst practices’ article? If not, here it is again:
http://www.thezoneread.com/200.....practices/
or http://tinyurl.com/47hlfk

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