Anything But Trivial Or Tweeting Your Way to Relevance

and Visibility While Having Fun

Leveraging Social Media to Promote Your Organization:

A Case Study

Michael E. Newman, National Institute of Standards and TechnologyMark Newell, U.S. Geological Survey

Background: What is Science.gov?• “One Stop” web-search portal• Combines databases and websites from more than

15 Federal agencies• 200+ million pages of authoritative Gov’t science

and research info• Free of charge• Celebrating 10+ years of service• Social Media presence on Web and Twitter

Challenges for Promotion• Needed to generate more awareness of portal and

its vast knowledge base• Ad-hoc Promotions Group with volunteer members

from supporting agencies• No budget for promotion• Competing with crowded Social Media environment

Fortunately, the Promotions Group has members with Social Media/communications experience!

3

Goals and Objectives• Develop awareness and exposure• Gain interest• Increase visibility• Encourage use of Science.gov website• Boost other agency participation• Amplify participating agency’s website and

communications goals• Make science and research relevant and FUN!

The Grand Experiment• “Science.gov Trivia Challenge”• Tweets: Each post features interesting science-

based trivia question from one member agency• Click on URL in tweet Science.gov landing page• Landing page: Full question and answer, plus

summary with several links• Cumulative archive of all postings• Liberal use of #hashtags to increase traffic

Trivia Status (as of 2/22/2014)Showing Current and Future Federal Agency Participation

6

Agency Formatted Tweets Tweets Posted

Homeland Security S&T Directorate 8 5Energy 8 5Transportation 8 5Environmental Protection Agency 0 0Library of Congress 8 5National Archives and Records Administration 8 5NASA 8 5National Institute of Standards and Technology 8 6National Library of Medicine 8 5NOAA 8 5National Science Foundation 8 4National Technical Information Service 5 5Agriculture 0 0US Forest Service 4 3US Geological Survey 8 6

Totals 97 64

Agencies with 8 Formatted Trivia Tweets

Tweeting Cycles (as of 2/22/2014)

7

6/4/2013 NLM 9/24/2013 NSF6/6/2013 USGS 9/26/2013 USFS6/11/2013 LOC 10/1/2013 No Trivia Post (Shutdown)

6/13/2013 NIST 10/3/2013 No Trivia Post (Shutdown)

6/18/2013 DOE 10/8/2013 No Trivia Post (Shutdown)

6/20/2013 DHS S&T 10/15/2013 No Trivia Post (Shutdown)

6/25/2013 DOT 10/17/2013 NTIS6/27/2013 NTIS 10/22/2013 NARA7/2/2013 NSF 10/24/2013 NOAA7/4/2013 No Trivia Post 10/29/2013 NIST7/9/2013 NARA 10/31/2013 NASA7/11/2013 NASA 11/5/2013 LOC7/16/2013 NLM 11/7/2013 USGS7/18/2013 LOC 11/12/2013 DOT7/23/2013 USGS 11/14/2013 NLM7/25/2013 NIST 11/19/2013 NARA7/30/2013 DOE 11/21/2013 USFS8/1/2013 DHS S&T 11/26/2013 NOAA8/6/2013 DOT 11/28/2013 No Trivia Post8/8/2013 NTIS 12/3/2013 DHS S&T8/13/2013 NSF 12/5/2013 DOE8/15/2013 NARA 12/10/2013 NTIS8/20/2013 NASA 12/12/2013 NSF8/22/2013 NLM 12/17/2013 NOAA8/27/2013 LOC 12/19/2013 NIST8/29/2013 USGS 12/24/2013 No Trivia Post9/3/2013 NIST 12/26/2013 No Trivia Post9/5/2013 DOE 12/31/2013 No Trivia Post9/10/2013 DHS S&T 1/7/2014 USGS9/12/2013 NOAA 1/9/2014 LOC9/17/2013 DOT 1/14/2014 NASA9/19/2013 NASA 1/16/2014 DOT

1/21/2014 NLM1/23/2014 NARA1/28/2014 USFS1/30/2014 No Trivia Post2/4/2014 DHS S&T2/6/2014 DOE2/11/2014 NTIS2/13/2014 NOAA2/18/2014 NIST2/20/2014 USGS2/25/20142/27/20143/4/20143/6/20143/11/20143/13/20143/18/20143/20/20143/25/20143/27/20144/1/2014

Steps to Launch of Trivia Challenge• Got Promotions Group “buy-in” of plan• Developed “how to” guide for creating trivia tweets• Determined resources vs opportunity• Built the trivia collection• Edited and verified trivia tweets• 3….2…1…Lift Off!!! June 4, 2013• Post every Tuesday and Thursday – 11:00 ET

Dissecting the Trivia PostThe Tweeted Question

As posted on @Sciencegov

#trivia World’s deadliest recorded #earthquake occurred when/where? Go.usa.gov/bu2u5 #earthquakes #USGS

• Tweet starts with #trivia to identify it as a trivia question and draw in

those seeking trivia on Twitter• Shortened URL takes viewers to landing page on Science.gov website• Hashtags draw in those interested in tagged subjects and featured agency

9

Dissecting the Trivia PostThe Answer

As posted on www.science.gov/trivia

Question: Where and when did the deadliest recorded earthquake occur?

Answer: China, 1556

The world's deadliest recorded earthquake occurred in 1556 in the Shaanxi Province, central China. It struck a region where most people lived in caves carved from soft rock. These dwellings collapsed during the earthquake, killing an estimated 830,000 people. In 1976, another deadly earthquake struck in Tangshan, China, where more than 250,000 people were killed. Worldwide earthquake activity is monitored by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

For more information, go to: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

• Full question and answer revealed on landing page; previous posts archived • Links in summary send viewers to additional information

10

A Sample Trivia Challenge Post#trivia @usnistgov calibrated timers for what 2002 Winter #Olympics competition? http://Go.usa.gov/b2u5 #scigov

Question: In the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, Utah, the National Institute of Standards and Technology calibrated the timers for what competition?

Answer: Bobsledding

Racers in the bobsled, luge and skeleton events reach some of the highest speeds of any Olympic Winter Games competitors—up to 130-145 kilometers per hour (80-90 miles per hour). Since winners are often decided by mere milliseconds, the timing system for these events must be highly accurate and consistent. That wasn’t a problem at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, thanks to experts from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The timing system for the runs at Utah Olympic Park was calibrated against the national time standard provided by the NIST-F1 atomic clock in Boulder, Colo.

For more information, go to: http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/time-010202.cfm

11

Initial Results and Takeaways• Virtual growth curve: 8 month “hockey stick”• More than doubled Twitter followers:

15-25 new followers per week• 40,000+ “clicks” Twitter Science.gov website• Reflected by website “hits”• Posting retweets average: 20• Increased traffic to participating agency websites

Retweets Key to Broad OutreachCurrent Federal Current Media Targets for Future

NASA 6M New Scientist 2M National Geographic 5.6MLibrary of Congress 564K Science News 744K Discovery Channel 2.1MNSF 442K Scientific American 728K Wired Science 1.2MUSGS 357K NPR Science Friday 442K Bill Nye the Science Guy 1.2MNOAA 236K Popular Science 254K Ars Technica 638KCommerce 86K EurekAlert! (AAAS) 16K NY Times Science Desk 541KNARA 36K

NLM 23KNIST 16K

Also plan to target:

• Educational organizations and associations “Start science classes out with icebreaker trivia”• Scientific organizations and associations “Promote trivia for online messages and newsletters”

Project Maintenance and Future• More trivia from agencies, edit and queue• Posts amplified by agency websites, blogs,

Facebook, Google+, Twitter and other Social Media platforms

• Total start-up cost: $2,000 (estimated labor)• Maintenance costs: $80 per week • Results PRICELESS!

Summary – What’s In It for You?• Increases organizational awareness, visibility and

interest• Leverages low-cost/no-cost social media• Boosts interorganizational cooperation and

collaboration• Improves internal morale and agency pride• Uses available resources to maximize exposure• HAVE FUN!

More Samples from the

Science.gov Trivia Challenge

16

#trivia: @nlm_news NLM main bldg built 1950s to protect frm what disaster? http://go.usa.gov/b2u5 #scigov

17

#trivia: @nlm_news NLM main bldg built 1950s to protect frm what disaster? http://go.usa.gov/b2u5 #scigov

18

Question: The National Library of Medicine main building was designed and constructed in the late 1950s to protect its collection from what type of disaster? Answer: A nuclear attack The National Library of Medicine (NLM), on the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., is the world’s largest biomedical library housing more than 19 million books, journals, artworks, manuscripts, audiovisual productions and other materials. Because the NLM main library facility was built in the late 1950s during the height of the Cold War between the United States and the USSR, the building incorporated many design characteristics that, at the time, were considered state-of-the-art means for protecting the collection from a nearby (but not direct) nuclear strike. These included a collapsible roof, floors and walls that would equalize the pressure of an explosion, and over 50 miles of bookshelves stored on three football field-sized underground levels. For more information, go to: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC200608/pdf/mlab00197-0165.pdf

#trivia: Who was only @NASA astronaut to fly on all five Space Shuttles: Young, Ride or Musgrave? Go.usa.gov/b2u5 #scigov

19

#trivia: Who was only @NASA astronaut to fly on all five Space Shuttles: Young, Ride or Musgrave? Go.usa.gov/b2u5 #scigov

20

Question: Who was the only NASA astronaut to fly on all five Space Shuttle orbiters: John Young, Sally Ride or Story Musgrave? Answer: Story Musgrave Dr. Story Musgrave, selected as a scientist-astronaut by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1967, flew six Space Shuttle missions and rode at least once on all five of the orbiters that went into space: Atlantis (1991), Challenger (1983 and 1985), Columbia (1996), Discovery (1989) and Endeavour (1993). He spent more than 1,200 hours in orbit. John Young, commander of the first Shuttle mission aboard Columbia in 1982, piloted the ship a second time in 1983. America’s first woman in space in 1983 aboard Challenger, Sally Ride, flew on the same orbiter again in 1984. For more information, go to: http://www11.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/musgrave.html

#trivia: Which @Energy laboratory was the birthplace of #video #games? Go.usa.gov/b2u5 #scigov

21

#trivia: Which @Energy laboratory was the birthplace of #video #games? Go.usa.gov/b2u5 #scigov

22

Question: Which Department of Energy laboratory was the birthplace of #video games? Answer: Brookhaven National Laboratory William Higinbotham, head of the Instrumentation Division at what is now the Department of Energy (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), created an interactive game called “Tennis for Two” for the annual visitor day in 1958. The game was run by an analog computer hooked up to an oscilloscope. Simulated on a screen was a vertical side view of a tennis court. Each player had a knob and a button. Rotating the knob changed the angle of the ball and a press of the button sent the ball toward the opposite side of the court. If the ball hit the net, it rebounded at an unexpected angle. If the ball went over the net, but was not hit back, it would hit the floor and bounce again at a natural angle. If it disappeared off the screen, a reset button could be pressed, causing the ball to reappear and remain stationary until a hit button was pressed. For more information, go to: http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/videogame.html

Questions?

Michael E. Newman, NISTmichael.newman@nist.gov

Mark Newell, USGSmnewell@usgs.gov