How NASA Utilizes Social Media to Carry Out Its 1958 “Space Act” Mandate

Collett Litchard

Submitted May 1, 2016

INTRODUCTION

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, more commonly referred to as

NASA, was “formally opened for business on Oct. 1, 1958” (NASA.gov) a few months after

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958,

mandating the organization and mission of a space research program for the United States. This

was in response to the launch of the first satellite by Russians in October of 1957. The

motivation for the creation and prolific output of NASA’s presence on social media sites can be

traced back to these early events. The dissemination of information to the broadest possible

audience was part of that early mandate. NASA’s use of social media sites is an example of how

digital social spaces, like Twitter, enable the production and distribution of political and

scientific writing in a social sphere. The genre of scientific writing, in this case relating to space

exploration and research, thereby becomes a mass literacy activity, one that has a global

community of practice. NASA effectively uses social media sites to further its political agenda,

that of ensuring the programs and original objectives set forth in the 1958 mandate are

propagated en masse. The Space Act outlined eight objectives. Four of the eight objectives, with

its introductory statement, are as follows:

The aeronautical and space activities of the United States shall be conducted so as
to contribute materially to one or more of the following objectives:
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(1) The expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and

space;

(4) The establishment of long-range studies of the potential benefits to be gained

from, the opportunities for, and the problems involved in the utilization of
aeronautical and space activities for peaceful and scientific purposes.

(5) The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in aeronautical
and space science and technology and in the application thereof to the conduct of
peaceful activities within and outside the atmosphere.

(7) Cooperation by the United States with other nations and groups of nations in
work done pursuant to this Act and in the peaceful application of the results,
thereof; (history.nasa.gov)

Ethnographic research was conducted to determine how NASA’s Twitter feed

accomplishes its rhetorical goals outlined in the 1958 mandate using social media writing, and

how this social media writing further exemplifies the meta concept that “writing is an activity

and a subject [worthy] of study” (Adler-Kassner and Wardle, 15) to further our knowledge and

understanding in the broader and ongoing literacy conversation. Primary research of monitoring

daily Twitter activity from NASA led to secondary research into the communities engaged by the

NASA Twitter feed and supported the argument that NASA effectively uses social media to

further its political ideologies and continue successfully carrying out the 1958 mandates.

METHODOLOGY

The research site was the social media site Twitter, whose mission is “To give everyone

the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.” (Twitter.com).

Twitter allows users 140 characters to compose a “tweet,” a type of micro-blog post. Users also

have the ability to create multimodal tweets by uploading videos and photos, link to other online

sources, follow other users, react and engage with other tweets by clicking their choice of several

buttons with names such as, like, retweet, reply, and others. The like, retweet and reply reaction

buttons are important to the quantitative data as they track numbers in audience engagement.
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“Handles” are users’ profile names assigned to allow for identification. They take the

form of a short one-line name chosen by the user. They all begin with the @ symbol. NASA’s

Twitter handle is @NASA. Users can also tag topics by using the # symbol, for example

#NASA, spoken as “hashtag NASA,” would tag all posts with the denotation into that category.

Any hashtag the produces large amounts of activity are said to be “trending.”

The number of followers and followings are tracked and posted to a user’s home page, as

well as total tweet quantity and the number of likes that users have initiated on other users’

tweets. For example, @NASA has tweeted 41.8 thousand times, is following 257 other Twitter

users, has 15.6 million followers and has liked 1,085 tweets from others. The number of

followers is important to this study as is shows the effectiveness of reaching a broad audience

and shows overall appeal when compared to other social media sites and other public entities or

individuals on Twitter.

Both qualitative and quantitative measures were employed to construct a hypothesis and

allow for analysis of data. Over a 12-day period, from March 23, 2016 to April 3, 2016, Tweet

counts were collected, audience engagement was monitored, both numerical and commentary,

trends in content were noted, information on the authorship of Tweets was gathered, rhetorical

and ideological examples were noted, any out of the ordinary or common themes were also taken

into account. Preliminary observations and interpretations were noted on a daily basis, usually

the day after the actual tweets were made to ensure capturing all of the day’s numerical totals

and activities.

Once all the data was collected, and field notes complete, secondary research was

conducted to help analyze the preliminary data. For example, “good morning” and “good night”

tweets showed as a trend from the same author, so research on his function and job title was

obtained to understand the rhetoric behind his near identical daily tweets. Research into other
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social media sites frequented and used by NASA was conducted as a way to compare

effectiveness of its Twitter account. More research on Twitter was carried out to interpret

NASA’s ranking of effectiveness. This further research included looking at the number one

Twitter user in popularity rankings determined by the number of followers, as well as the

President of the United States, who uses two official Twitter handles. Finally, the other space

and aeronautical agencies akin to NASA were observed for popularity and effectiveness using its

following quantities for comparison with NASA’s twitter following. This allowed for a picture of

the effectiveness of NASA in reaching its mandated goals. It also propagates the studies of

writing as a social practice in a scientific and political community.

My own identity as a Twitter user, writing enthusiast, science advocate, @NASA

follower and sociopolitical interested individual, drove my desire to study how NASA uses

Twitter as a means to communicate to the world audience through social media writing its

missions and how its daily activities affect the entire world population. In order for NASA to

connect with individuals like me on a social level, they must enter the social spaces popular in

today’s societies. Social media sites like Twitter are one of the communities of practice that can

be joined by institutions like NASA to unite government agencies and its political agendas with

the general public, allowing for interaction and engagement on a less formal level. In my

heuristic view, this humanizes the agency and invites the layperson to join in on the daily

activities of space exploration and research that otherwise they would not be able to witness.

Prior to social media sites like Twitter, the average citizen could only read post hoc reports or

view pre-recorded video or television programming. Twitter allows for real-time conversation

and interaction with astronauts in space, a feat previously unheard of outside the NASA control

centers.
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FINDINGS

Daily tweet totals ranged from 8 total tweets throughout the day to 24 in a given day.

150 total tweets were written over the 12-day study period. This averages out to 12.5 a day or an

average of 1 every two hours. Because Twitter’s micro-blog format limits writing to 140

characters or less, the busy NASA astronauts, staff and crew are able to converse with the

general population without disrupting their work significantly. This enables them to keep the

mandates of conducting “long-range studies” and preserving “the role of the United States as a

leader in aeronautical and space science and technology” (history.nasa.gov). Because President

Eisenhower and the first NASA leaders felt public dissemination of knowledge was imperative

to its mission, finding easy, quick ways for the disbursement of information aids in promoting its

ideologies.

Tim Kopra, current commander of the International Space Station, Expedition 47

(nasa.gov), tweets near identical text every morning and every evening.
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As seen in the images above, the retweets and likes are nearly identical each day. The first

photo, taken of an unidentified spot over the Pacific Ocean was taken on April 1 at 6:20 AM and

the second taken over Warsaw, Poland at 2:39 PM. The audience interaction from both tweets

amassed comments from all over the globe, as well as over a thousand retweets and 3,000 plus

likes. Most responses to these types of tweets were positive in nature. Not all responses are

written in English, though all tweets are sent in English.

This proves the effectiveness of reaching a global audience and positioning Tim Kopra,

successfully fulfilling his duties to the 1958 mandate, especially the seventh objective of

peacefully working with other nations and groups of nations in the work NASA pursues.

Not only does social media provide NASA with a writing arena to further its ideologies,

but it puts NASA in a position to be a literacy sponsor to individuals worldwide. This back and

forth communication between NASA members and the global audience fosters the type of

relationship that enables NASA to “provide the materials and auspices and often the rationales

under which literacy is learned and practiced” (Brandt, 50-51). Twitter, to many individuals, is a

social space that has little meaning in an academic sense, but to the extent that NASA has had
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mandates in place for over 50 years, the use of Twitter as a literacy arena where scientific and

political communication via a written tweet creates a community of practice with global reach

inflates Twitter’s “value [as] an existing form a literacy” (Brandt, 64).

To reach a broad audience, the daily tweets range sharing information about instruments

that measure the wobble of a star to using satellites to predict reproduction patterns of deer on

Earth, and from political talks between the United States and Russia to gender equality in the

leadership of NASA, and even tweets as simple as showing appreciation for the beauty of our

universe. Because no person or organization is “ideologically pure” (Adler-Kassner and Wardle,

57) the rhetoric of reaching a broad audience is shown in the variety of tweets produced each

day. Even the good morning and good night tweets attempt to address and engage specific world

communities and bring them into NASA’s social writing practice on Twitter so that its political

ideologies may be shared with a more comprehensive world audience.

The effectiveness of NASA’s twitter feed can be looked at quantitatively and

comparatively with other social media sites. NASA’s website home page banner displays a tab

called “Follow NASA” and when clicked on takes the site visitor to a page entitled “Social

Media at NASA” (nasa.gov). There are links to 14 different social media sites. Again, this

demonstrates how NASA is trying to reach the broadest audience possible for the dissemination

of information and as a means to remain the leader in every way. NASA’s top three social media

sites in volume of followers include Twitter, Facebook and Instagram respectively. All three of

these sites have followers in the multi-millions. Twitter alone, has 15.6 million followers. When

compared to several other well-known public figure or public organization Twitter accounts,

only two of the ten that were used as comparisons top NASA in quantity of followers: Katy

Perry, who is the #1 Twitter persona with 86 million followers and President Barack Obama,

who has two official Twitter accounts. @BarackObama is his personal campaign account
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created in 2007 and one is the account used by the current President of the United State, hence

the handle @POTUS. The other accounts used for comparison data were that of all other known

space and aeronautical agencies around the world. NASA is the single space agency with more

than a million followers.

It is clear that NASA leads the way in the social practice of writing and engaging

audiences in social media, especially the platform of Twitter. This fulfills the 1958 mandates,

mentioned previously, of remaining the leader in space programs.

To further fulfill the mandates of working peacefully with other countries’ space research

agencies using their Twitter social writing practice, NASA follows 257 other Twitter accounts.

Of the 257 Twitter users that @NASA follows, 256 are easily recognizable as having direct ties

to NASA. Every agency listed in the data chart above, except those denoted as having no data, is

one of the Twitter users that NASA follows. Others include current and former astronauts, other

NASA sponsored sites, outposts or programs, President Obama, NASA administrators, and other

leaders and crew who work for NASA or other nations’ space agencies.

The lone exception is the Angry Birds Twitter handle. Angry Birds, “the casual mobile

game that changed an industry and became an international phenomenon,” according to

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rovio.com, is a game produced by Rovio Entertainment, a global entertainment media company

hailing from Finland (rovio.com). Rovio and NASA teamed up to create Angry Birds Space,

released in 2012. Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute, also known as SSERVI,

is a subsidiary of NASA. Through a collaborative effort with Rovio, the NASA Twitter feed was

used to advertise the game’s release. NASA’s objectives of advancing the original mandates by

“enabling cross-disciplinary partnerships” to utilize “information technology for scientific

collaboration and information dissemination across geographic boundaries: (SSERVI) are once

again shown in the scope of using Twitter as a means to accomplish and fulfill the mandates

from 1958.

CONCLUSION

Online social media sites, like Twitter, though relatively new to the literacy practice of

writing, enable individuals and agencies such as NASA and its staff to maintain the

dissemination of knowledge and propagation of its political and scientific endeavors. Using

social media as a social writing arena, creates an environment where the threshold concepts in

the study of writing can and should be examined. NASA uses its Twitter feed to carry out

objectives set forth by President Eisenhower’s National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958.

Elizabeth Wardle and Linda Adler-Kassner’s book Naming What We Know begins by saying that

“writing is created, produced, distributed, and used for a variety of purposes. In this sense, it is

an activity in which individuals and groups engage” (Adler-Kassner and Wardle, 15). NASA is

the group in this ethnographic study. Twitter is the online social media space where the writing

takes place and the individuals who write and engage are the NASA scientists and astronauts and

the millions of worldwide citizens who follow NASA on Twitter. The purpose of NASA’s

Twitter feed is a rhetorical use of social media to engage the public in the daily activities,
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research, missions and discoveries in which NASA takes part. Each individual mini-blog style

tweet is distributed to a worldwide audience.

Together the 15.6 million NASA followers, 257 Twitter users that NASA follows, and

other unknown individuals make up the community of practice for NASA’s social media

accounts, especially in the case of this study, Twitter. The evidence and data collected during

the 12-day study supports the hypothesis that NASA uses Twitter to further its political and

scientific ideologies by disseminating information to the broadest possible audience, in a variety

of ways. It does this by appealing to the social conscience of its followers, their love of beauty,

their scientific curiosity, sense of community with their hometown, or a plethora of other tweeted

topics in a social space familiar to most of the world’s population. In this way, Twitter becomes

the written social practice of NASA, thereby becoming a prime example of why writing on

social-media spaces warrants further research. Since social-media sites like Twitter are relatively

new writing practices, the study of such will add to the ever-growing knowledge base of how

particular communities use specific writing practices. Studying social-media writing will

increase our understanding they are used to rhetorically addressing the needs of self and

audience.
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Works Cited

@NASA. Twitter.com. Web. 23 Mar thru 3 Apr 2016.

Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle, Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing

Studies, Utah State University Press, Logan, UT. 2015. Print.

Brandt, Deborah. Literacy and Learning. Jossey-Bass. San Francisco. Print. 2009.

Facebook.com “NASA.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Flickr.com “NASA HQ Photo.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Foursquare.com. “NASA.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Instagram.com. “NASA.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Linkedin.com. “NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

NASA History. “NASA History Overview.” 17 Dec 2015. Nasa.gov. Web. 8 Apr 2016.

NASA ISS. International Space Station. “Biographical Data.” Dec 2015. JSC.NASA.gov. Web.

4 Apr 2016.

NASA Social Media. “Social Media at NASA.” Apr 2016. Nasa.gov. Web. 8 Apr 2016.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. “National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958

(Unamended).” Updated 18 Feb 2004. Nasa.gov. Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Plus.Google.com. “NASA.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Rovio. “Angry Birds and NASA join forces to pioneer game learning.” 27 Feb 2015. Rovio.com.

Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Slideshare.net. “The NASA Universe.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Snapchat.com. “NASA.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Soundcloud.com. “NASA United States.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

SSERVI. “NASA and Rovio Gamers Create Angry Birds Space.” Solar System Exploration

Research. SSERVI.NASA.gov. Web. 8 Apr 2016.

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Tumblr.com. “NASA.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Twitter.com. Various @”user” pages. Web. 9 Apr 2016.

USTREAM.tv. “NASA Public.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

Vine.co. “NASA.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.

YouTube.com. “NASA.gov Video.” Web. 9 Apr 2016.