Festival campsite rumours. We’ve all heard them.
“Did you know that Robbie Williams was drinking in the campsite last night?”
“Did you hear that Blink 182 are doing an impromptu performance at midnight next to the big wheel?”
“Did you hear that Neil Armstrong passed away?”
“Haha very funny, in the campsite, right?”
“No really, check Facebook or Twitter”
Check Facebook and Twitter. Traditionally, we would have headed straight for the news sites; however our first instinct now is to head directly to social media to confirm or quash rumours.
Unfortunately, as I sat on the grass in Bramham Park (home of the Leeds Festival), my Facebook friends confirmed the news, Neil Armstrong had passed away. As an avid believer that Neil Armstrong was in fact the first man to walk on the moon (no, it wasn’t a hoax), and generally just fond of the great astronaut with Scottish ancestry, I was deeply saddened by the news. It was inevitable that the public would make use of the social media to pay respect to the late hero and express their sympathy; however I hoped that the initiative would be taken and something innovative would be done in his honour.
We have the lovely Memes (see below), the RIP Facebook groups with 80K+ likes, the YouTube videos paying homage and even a US Congress petition to Make August 5 National Neil Armstrong Day. But in my opinion, the first man that walked on the moon deserves something a little more fitting than that.
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Thank goodness for the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. With the help of The Martin Agency, it has launched a centralised Twitter tribute, ‘One Small Tweet’, to recreate Armstrong’s renowned journey to the moon.
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Every time a Twitter user posts a tweet with the hashtag #onesmalltweet, it counts as the equivalent of 100 miles of his journey. That 100 miles is beautifully displayed on an interactive microsite that showcases the journey so far. As each message is posted, we can track the journey from the earth to the moon, all 238,900 miles of it. At the time of writing, we are 185,744 miles into the journey. That’s 77% of the way there! The end goal is for Armstrong’s family to send the last tweet.
What an innovative, visually compelling tribute to the late great Neil Armstrong.
Why not join in our office banter in the comments section below; Did Neil Armstrong really say ‘Good Luck Mr Gorsky’ as he boarded the Apollo 11 for the journey home?
By client insight manager John Paul @johnpaulfox @yomegosocial