I love space. Everyone who knows me personally can attest to this. As such, my favourite thing to consume on the Internet, is not, in fact, Buzzfeed lists (which come a close second), but news, pictures, and information about space exploration and discovery. In fact, I was following NASA online even before it was cool to do so (translation: 4 years ago). Today, it’s even easier to follow astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), such as Chris Hadfield, who takes to Twitter, Foursquare (pretty sure he’s the “Mayor” of the ISS), Facebook, Tumblr, and more. And, today, it was announced that we’ve (I’m going to be inclusive on the account of being human) taken 1 million photos of Earth from the Space Station – 1 million!

A few years ago, I had some early predictions about the positive impact that NASA’s investment in online communications would yield. In the past, the organization has been criticized for making poor promotions, or for not creating ANY promotions at all, when it quite literally has some of the coolest projects in (and out!) of this world at its fingertips. In fact, some of the best promotions for NASA have been created by fans & followers, not the organization itself:

Human understanding of space involves an ever-increasing level of complexity (apparently, we could be in the Matrix). Under the U.S. definition, as of June 20, 2011, only 529 people qualify as having reached space, above 50 miles altitude. Safe to say – a scarce few will ever go. Which is why effective communication is so important in validating the huge expense it takes to fund space projects & initiatives. Whenever people question why money is allocated to space projects, like the International Space Station, versus spending money on “problems happening on Earth”, I like to show them this list. You see, space provides a unique environment to perform experiments in. For example, countless vaccines & medicines have been developed on the ISS, due to molecules being able to be combined in a weightless environment, in a way that they would not be able to on Earth. So, effectively communicating this information to doubters is crucial to NASA’s continuation – especially with the dormant state of its human-transporting spacecrafts. Which, is likely why, on March 2013, NASA launched this page on the Benefits of ISS Research.

But, y’know, perhaps an even easier way to people’s hearts is to publicize the (now) million pretty pictures of our blue planet, such as this one of Liverpool taken earlier this week:

Or, my one of my favourites – the Richat structure:

Having astronauts actively engaged in social media has vastly increased awareness for NASA and its global partners, and is generating interest in science & technology from future generations, which is something we can all benefit from. I highly recommend following Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) on Twitter, and you can check out ALL of his photos from the ISS on this fantastic, interactive map.

Has NASA’s social media efforts increased your understanding & support for its projects & endeavours? Who do you think is rocketing up the social media charts?

Marketing Wright on Google+