I promised myself I would not partake in the constant Twitter chatter, but I had to step in on this one. Twitter is being used for probably the coolest thing ever, and no one is covering it. So here it is.
On May 25, 2008, the Mars Phoenix Lander announced its landing on Mars on Twitter. This event, however, was eclipsed by Mike Arrington’s profound Twitter post and the ensuing debate. From my point of view, that of a tech-influenced publicist, I see several major problems with this whole situation and how it was treated by NASA.
I should probably include some background information before I point out the glaring missteps. NASA announced in July of 2007 that it was launching a web 2.0 campaign in an attempt to get people excited about the space program again. They set out to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to connect to their younger demographic, hoping to inspire this generation to be more interested in science and space exploration. It’s a great idea, in theory.
Please note: I truly hope that this is taken in the purely productive tone of which I meant it to be. Before we can truly understand how to do something better, we need to understand what was done wrong.
The first problem, as I see it, was putting this campaign in the hands of someone who is probably older, with a background in either traditional PR and marketing, or even possibly, technology (speculation). Getting someone who has a lot of experience in technology and marketing, is a very common mistake. Obviously, you hired someone who was not a Facebook user or Twitterer, but they knew about the technology and thought it would be wise to use these very popular platforms. The logical thing to do would have been to use someone with experience with that demographic, and experience in influencer marketing (i.e. someone like me). Who would better understand the social network demographic than someone who was in said demographic? Exactly.
The second problem, and possibly one of the biggest, was not paying attention to key bloggers. There is no shortage of amazing bloggers with a huge network of followers. If you want to address a large group of people who are clearly social network users, why not state your intentions to a blog like Techcrunch? Considering they use material from people who send messages on Facebook, I think they might pay attention to an email from NASA. Twitter didn’t even blog about this project. Message to Twitter – While you were responding to the “Twitter!” post on Techcrunch, with your “Techcrunch?” post, NASA was using YOUR site to send the first images from Mars on this mission. Nicely done.
The third problem, is not as much of a problem as it is a suggestion. If you want to be involved with emerging technology and Silicon Valley culture, do some research. Take a lead from people who have done what you are trying to do, and have been doing it for awhile. New media, usually involves new methods. For example, the best viral marketing tool on the web, is video. If you want young people to think that NASA is cool again, then stop releasing videos of NASA with boring, old people. Connected Ventures posted a video on Vimeo that was all of the employees doing a lip dub of “Flagpole Sitta” by Harvey Danger, in place of a job ad. They wanted young smart people, so they posted a fun video, showing how cool it would be to work there. You’re NASA! If you guys just had a sense of humor and produced some fun videos and released them on Youtube and other video sites, you might get a better response. People love aliens and UFO videos, and you are the space program. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to figure something out.
We all understand that space exploration is not as popular as it once was. There was a time that people lived and breathed NASA. It was estimated that one fifth of the population of the world watched the live transmission of the first Apollo moonwalk, and one quarter of the world’s population watched the Christmas Eve transmission during the ninth orbit of the moon with Apollo 8. Right now, @MarsPhoenix has 8,858 followers on Twitter. Great leaps have been made since 1969. With all of this new technology, and NASA’s partnership with social media, people can actually participate in space exploration, instead of watching from the sidelines. We can do this in a way that no previous generation has ever been able to do. But you can’t just use the technology and expect people to find it. Use an integrated approach, including old media. Attract the older demographic, the people who did actually watch the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve transmission. You have a long way to go to get people excited about the space program again, but you can do it. Hey, you made it to the moon didn’t you? This should be easy.
In case you were wondering if there is a connection to LA in this article, there is. Mission design and control for the Mars Phoenix expedition is handled by the NASA Jet Propulsion Center in Pasadena, CA.
Twittering from Mars?
29 05 2008I promised myself I would not partake in the constant Twitter chatter, but I had to step in on this one. Twitter is being used for probably the coolest thing ever, and no one is covering it. So here it is.
On May 25, 2008, the Mars Phoenix Lander announced its landing on Mars on Twitter. This event, however, was eclipsed by Mike Arrington’s profound Twitter post and the ensuing debate. From my point of view, that of a tech-influenced publicist, I see several major problems with this whole situation and how it was treated by NASA.
I should probably include some background information before I point out the glaring missteps. NASA announced in July of 2007 that it was launching a web 2.0 campaign in an attempt to get people excited about the space program again. They set out to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to connect to their younger demographic, hoping to inspire this generation to be more interested in science and space exploration. It’s a great idea, in theory.
Please note: I truly hope that this is taken in the purely productive tone of which I meant it to be. Before we can truly understand how to do something better, we need to understand what was done wrong.
The first problem, as I see it, was putting this campaign in the hands of someone who is probably older, with a background in either traditional PR and marketing, or even possibly, technology (speculation). Getting someone who has a lot of experience in technology and marketing, is a very common mistake. Obviously, you hired someone who was not a Facebook user or Twitterer, but they knew about the technology and thought it would be wise to use these very popular platforms. The logical thing to do would have been to use someone with experience with that demographic, and experience in influencer marketing (i.e. someone like me). Who would better understand the social network demographic than someone who was in said demographic? Exactly.
The second problem, and possibly one of the biggest, was not paying attention to key bloggers. There is no shortage of amazing bloggers with a huge network of followers. If you want to address a large group of people who are clearly social network users, why not state your intentions to a blog like Techcrunch? Considering they use material from people who send messages on Facebook, I think they might pay attention to an email from NASA. Twitter didn’t even blog about this project. Message to Twitter – While you were responding to the “Twitter!” post on Techcrunch, with your “Techcrunch?” post, NASA was using YOUR site to send the first images from Mars on this mission. Nicely done.
The third problem, is not as much of a problem as it is a suggestion. If you want to be involved with emerging technology and Silicon Valley culture, do some research. Take a lead from people who have done what you are trying to do, and have been doing it for awhile. New media, usually involves new methods. For example, the best viral marketing tool on the web, is video. If you want young people to think that NASA is cool again, then stop releasing videos of NASA with boring, old people. Connected Ventures posted a video on Vimeo that was all of the employees doing a lip dub of “Flagpole Sitta” by Harvey Danger, in place of a job ad. They wanted young smart people, so they posted a fun video, showing how cool it would be to work there. You’re NASA! If you guys just had a sense of humor and produced some fun videos and released them on Youtube and other video sites, you might get a better response. People love aliens and UFO videos, and you are the space program. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to figure something out.
We all understand that space exploration is not as popular as it once was. There was a time that people lived and breathed NASA. It was estimated that one fifth of the population of the world watched the live transmission of the first Apollo moonwalk, and one quarter of the world’s population watched the Christmas Eve transmission during the ninth orbit of the moon with Apollo 8. Right now, @MarsPhoenix has 8,858 followers on Twitter. Great leaps have been made since 1969. With all of this new technology, and NASA’s partnership with social media, people can actually participate in space exploration, instead of watching from the sidelines. We can do this in a way that no previous generation has ever been able to do. But you can’t just use the technology and expect people to find it. Use an integrated approach, including old media. Attract the older demographic, the people who did actually watch the Apollo 8 Christmas Eve transmission. You have a long way to go to get people excited about the space program again, but you can do it. Hey, you made it to the moon didn’t you? This should be easy.
In case you were wondering if there is a connection to LA in this article, there is. Mission design and control for the Mars Phoenix expedition is handled by the NASA Jet Propulsion Center in Pasadena, CA.