NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission, which dropped the 1-ton Curiosity rover on the Red Planet’s surface Aug. 5. It’s an institution of 5,000 people studying theories and science often too complicated to pronounce, making it all the more more impressive that its inventive social media team managed to explode the Internet, building 1.1 million Twitter followers for the mission. Join us for a conversation with team members to see how they crafted a personality for their brands — plus some cool memes and videos from landing night.
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evonnebenedict
Sep 21, 20127:16 pm
Best session at #ONA12: @nasajpl about social media with @veronicamcg and @stephist.
— Filip Wallberg (@fiwa) September 22, 2012
“You think your beat is big? … My beat is THE UNIVERSE.” NASA JPL social panel #ONA12 #ONA12keynote
— Mike Roe (@MikeRoe) September 22, 2012
#ONA12keynote: There’s nothing about social media that is not time or labor intensive #ona12 #nasa @nasajpl
— Rachel Wright (@rewrightme) September 22, 2012
Wow. Cool. Read more about timekeeping on Mars en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timekeepi…#ONA12
— Adrienne LaFrance (@AdrienneLaF) September 22, 2012
‘JPL Mohawk Guy’ @tweetsoutloud is being discussed at#ONA12 panel on @nasajpl.
— Tiffany Kelly (@LATiffanyKelly) September 22, 2012
question about kickstarter funding oppty for @nasa – Write your Congress critter, really. #ONA12 #ONA12Keynote | gets < $0.005 fed budget
— Kathy E Gill (@kegill) September 22, 2012
Agreed! RT @angelaishere: Total respect @stephist and @veronicamcg! You inspire social editors! #ONA12 #ONA12keynote #nasajpl
— Emilee Speck (@EMSpeck) September 22, 2012
This @nasa #ONA12 session is freaking awesome. We knew for months @marscuriosity would say “GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU” – if all went to plan
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) September 22, 2012
@jpl‘s social media operation is small but so, so impressive. Love me some rover tweetups! #msl #ona12
— Josh Belzman (@JoshEdits) September 22, 2012
NASA’s Reddit AskMeAnything (AMA) is #4 most popular #ONA12 #ONA12Keynote | Obama bumped them from #3
— Kathy E Gill (@kegill) September 22, 2012
“ppl in times sq chanted ‘science, science!’ i don’t think that’s happened in the history of…ever” @stephist on #curiosity landing #ONA12
— anneke elyse jong (@annekejong) September 22, 2012
2,100 applicants for 25 slots for @marscuriosity launch tweetup. #ONA12
— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) September 22, 2012
Is there any other government program that has a committed engaging community like @nasa? I don’t think so. #ONA12 #ONA12keynote
— Kathy E Gill (@kegill) September 22, 2012
$11,000 or so to make ‘Seven minutes of terror’ – seen 5-million+ times
Totally true – not breathing through 7 minutes of terror
Bravo @veronicamcg @stephist, an entire room of journalists in awe of Mars EDL. #ona12 twitpic.com/ax1yjn
— Dennis Bonilla (@harbingeralpha) September 22, 2012
JPL tweeters @veronicamcg @stephist learned tons about @marscuriosity by hosting live chats 2-3 hrs/day for months before launch. #ONA12
— John Keefe (@jkeefe) September 22, 2012
#Respect “More than 50% posts on @nasa accts are @ replies – answering Qs, engaging w/ people.”#ona12keynote #ONA12 @veronicamcg @stephist
— sheigh (@sheigh) September 22, 2012
Here’s how you can share ‘Seven minutes of terror’ from NASA http://youtu.be/Ki_Af_o9Q9s
Photo from @marscuriosity yesterday. #ONA12 twitter.com/stevebuttry/st…
— Steve Buttry (@stevebuttry) September 22, 2012
1 thing is clear. #NASA social team loves what they do. #ona12
— Jodi Leese Glusco (@jmgl) September 22, 2012
“we are like jazz hands for science.” -@stephist on using social media to share information about @nasajpl missions. #ONA12 #spacenerds
— anneke elyse jong (@annekejong) September 22, 2012
<3 their “hive mind” MT @webbmedia: Loving presentation from @nasa social media gurus @veronicamcg and @stephist. Smart, funny women #ONA12
— Susy Jackson (@susyjacks) September 22, 2012
@nasa @veronicamcg @stephist Love what you’re doing in social. Our @yahoonews #spottheshuttle picks yhoo.it/SJvWkZ #ONA12
— Yahoo! News (@YahooNews) September 22, 2012
Who wouldn’t want to be the voice behind this guy?#ONA12 #ONA12Keynote twitter.com/evonnebenedict…
— Evonne Benedict (@evonnebenedict) September 22, 2012
Listening to #JPL #NASA‘s social strategy at #ONA12…learned I was 1 of 4.5mil viewers of Curiosity livestream last month
— Nancy Meyer Heiz (@MNancy) September 22, 2012
Here’s a good shot of #SpotTheShuttle over San Francisco this morning from #ONA12 participant
https://twitter.com/AdrienneLaF/status/249316788360314880/photo/1
Lots of people raise hands when asked if they sneaked out of #ONA12 today to see Space Shuttle Endeavour fly over San Francisco #SpotTheShuttle – anyone get a good photo?
#jgeek awesomeness and with amazing NASA women behind Mars Rover social media coverage at #ona12keynote #ona12 ow.ly/dUbQh
— Rachel Wright (@rewrightme) September 22, 2012
Sociable Science indeed! #ona12 #ONA12Keynote twitter.com/kegill/status/…
— Kathy E Gill (@kegill) September 22, 2012
Lots of space geeks excited for this..
Last #ONA12 panel of the day has NASA’s @veronicamcg and @stephist talking about how they made @marscuriosity the Twitter star he/she/it is.
— Rob Pegoraro (@robpegoraro) September 22, 2012
NASA goes social
jpl.nasa.gov/social
NASA NASA NASA NASA NASA! Pretty excited to hear from its #socialmedia team at #ONA12 #Curiosity #ONA12keynote
— Lyndal Cairns (@lyndalcairns) September 22, 2012
Hey #ona12 folks, you gotta come to the main ballroom room c for the nasa keynote. It’s (wait for it) out of this world. ba dum dum.
— Joshua Hatch (@hatchjt) September 22, 2012