Good evening to everyone "tuning in" to this blog!
Today I bring to you a tale that's literally out of this world. The space rover Curiosity is doing fine while exploring the vast desserts on Mars. All the while, the spunky rover is tweeting to its many followers back on Earth.
The tech savvy robot has over one million followers. That's a lot of people for a program that just had its budget practically ripped to shreds. Money doesn't seem to be a problem for NASA at the moment though with enough private donors have gathered together to make this Mars mission possible.
Unlike when the first moon landing occurred, this extravagant event wasn't watched just on TV. The news of the landing was also streamed online and, oddly enough, tweeted about by the very rover making the landing.
Did the scientist at NASA create a talking robot? Not necessarily.
The rover's twitter is controlled by three women of NASA: Veronica McGregor, Social Media Manager, and Stephanie L. Smith and Courtney O'Connor, both Social Media Specialists.They are the brains behind the personality of Curiosity.
That's why the rover seems so knowledgeable about pop culture and memes as it references them frequently on its, or her, twitter feed. Maybe that is why the Rover has gained such a large following. The first person accounts, brassiness, and knowledge about current trends make the twitter feel more like a real person.
This also wasn't the first rover to use a twitter. Curiosity's predecessor Phoenix also had a twitter run by a member of NASA back in 2008. Where they found first person was a lot easier to use than third person. So that may be why the Curiosity started using first person speech as well.
More and more people are coming up with new ways to use social media. I've heard a lot of people talk about how things like twitter and Facebook will burn out soon and people will get bored with them. With everything that's been going on recently, I kind of doubt it. As long as someone can think of a new and inventive way to refresh the site or whatever they are using, it can keep going for a long time.
What NASA is doing is just one example. If the Rover was just shown landing on TV in the news, people might not have cared. Why care about a program that's lost funding and has generally been seen as stiff and stuffy? Well, now NASA is interacting with all of the public in a new way. They are approachable by using social media, and just being themselves. (Like having a star spangled Mohawk)
I hope to see more things like this on twitter in the future. Maybe I'll make my car a twitter and document all its adventures with me! Or not.
Tune in next time for more shenanigans on this or any other planet!
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