Recently in social networking Category

NASA has chosen 150 Twitter users to watch the final launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on Friday 29 April, following a competition that took place last month.

 

The winners come from all around the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Puerto Rico, New Zealand, Venezuela, Switzerland and the UK.

Collectively the winners will share informative tweets about what is happening during the launch with their 3.7 million followers, along with NASA's one million followers.

In return, they will receive a tour of NASA's press centre, watch a space suit demonstration and have the opportunity to speak with NASA's chief scientist Waleed Abdalatiand astronaut Clay Anderson.

 

This entry was written by Danielle Richardson (@danielle_r) our intern for this week

Picture credit Matthew Simantov

Passengers travelling with Norwegian airline have reacted positively to the option of being able to take advantage of free wi-fi during their flight.

 

Some flights saw more than half of passengers logging on, the most during an Oslo to Alicante flight on April 14, when 87 passengers were connected at 30, 000 feet.

The high-speed broadband service was launched by the airline in February, and Norwegian is the only airline offering passengers this service on European routes, which is hoped to give a competitive advantage.

The airline plans to have installed a wifi service on its whole fleet of aircraft by the end of 2012, and will remain free of charge for the time being.

This entry was written by Danielle Richardson (@danielle_r) our intern for the week

Picture credit Jonatan Ortega

San Francisco International Airport's Terminal Two is host to a new social media scheme, being piloted by Virgin America and social marketing company, Context Optional.

 

They have installed a large leader board which aggregates and displays mobile phone log-ins from sites such as Facebook, Foursqaure and Gowalla, as well as streaming tweets from @VirginAmerica next to them.

In addition to giving passengers a more interactive experience, Virgin America is aiming to give regular customers rewards when they log-in via social networks to their associated airports and hotels.

This is an addition to Virgin America's already existing loyalty programme with TopGuest, which gives perks for social travellers.

This entry was written by Danielle Richardson (@danielle_r) our intern for this week

Picture credit Archangeli

Flightglobal's Tree of Communication explains how a digital publisher reports news and shows how facts, opinion and analysis can be communicated through the modern web.

You've clicked on the "tweet ups" leaf on the tree. So what are they?

Some background information: What is Twitter? Twitter.com is a microblogging site. Micro, because tweeters have just 140 characters to get their message across, but Wikipedia expains the Twitter concept quite well.

A follower, a person who also has a Twitter handle (or username) can choose to follow whomever they choose and they usually will follow another Twitter user with something in common with them. There are plenty of Twitter accounts within the aerospace and aviation industry. You can follow all the Flightglobal Tweeters here.

Stefan the Pilot organised a tweet up under the wing of an aircraft parked amid the static display at the Dubai Air Show.

A number of the industry's Twitterati will be here at the Farnborough Air Show and we are sure we will be meeting up at some point. Please follow @flightglobal or @stefanthepilot for details of when a likely Tweet up will be. Stefan the Pilot looks forward to meeting you. 

Witty and with-it marketing campaigns are usually the domain of a handful of carriers known for their flair, and are frequently LCCs. (I'm thinking the bet between Sir Richard Branson and Tony Fernandes where the loser dresses up as a flight attendant, or anything Ryanair related.)

But Lufthansa has shown it too can partake in the fun--and see its efforts go viral.

If you haven't heard the back story, last month Apple employee Gray Powell lost in a German bar in California a demo version of what's purported to be the next iPhone. Said iPhone wound up in the hands of technology blog Gizmodo, who blew the lid on the story this week and pinpointed Powell as the unfortunate soul who lost it.

Enter Lufthansa. On Twitter the carrier asked, "If you can help us get in touch with Gray Powell, we'd like to fly him to Munich". They weren't joking. In an open letter to Powell, Nicola C. Lange, the Director for Marketing & Customer Relations in the Americas wrote (full letter at the top):

We also noted with great interest your passion for German beer and culture. We thought you could use a break soon -- and therefore would like to offer you complimentary Business Class transportation to Munich, where you can literally pick up where you last left off. Upon arrival in Munich, feel free to check out our new Bavarian Beer Garden Business Lounge, and experience the best Germany has to offer.

Lufthansa is slyly plugging its new Bavarian Beer Garden Business Lounge, but the campaign is working, with the letter going viral across the internet.

Many would think of Lufthansa as a poised legacy carrier keeping its distance, but its letter shows it realises the power of social media. Its letter follows on the footsteps of Virgin America who announced via Twitter it would start services to Toronto, Boeing who recently started using Twitter, and AirAsia who have found they are able to cut down on marketing by promoting sales to their Facebook fans.

A Briton arrested last month for Twittering a bomb threat to an airport will be charged "with sending by a public communications network a message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character contrary to Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003" the South Yorkshire police said.

The offending Tweet? The Star reports:

When heavy snow at Robin Hood Airport in Doncaster, northern England, threatened to ruin Paul Chambers's plans to fly to Ireland, he vented his frustration by tapping out a message on the social networking site.

"Robin Hood Airport is closed," he wrote. "You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!"

You can find our roving Flightglobal journos on Twitter, sans bomb threats, in a handy list here.

Attention Facebook users: based on the popularity of our 787 group on Facebook with over 1,700 members, we have created two new groups.

First is the Boeing 747-8 group for all things related to the newest member of the 747 family.

Second is the Airbus 350 XWB for all things related to the newest commercial jet at Airbus.

At both groups you can share photos, read the latest news, or start a discussion. Affirm your interest to these aircraft and join these groups today. And don't forget to become our fan on Facebook and get more news, photos, and videos delivered to you.