‘Interactive’ Websites Need to Evolve Faster

by Jason Keath
July 16, 2009

Apollo 11Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. I am a huge history buff and a big fan of all things NASA and all things JFK. So when someone on Twitter pointed me to the JFK Library re-enactment of the moon landing, I was kind of excited to take a look.

The website is by the Martin Agency (and for some reason in connection with AOL) that celebrates the anniversary with a high media flash site that allows you to experience what happened with the landing in real time. A pretty cool concept, no doubt.

Interactive? I Guess So

The site is definitely focused on a high media experience. Cool interactive angles of the Apollo craft and the trip they take, along with great audio of the whole mission. In the traditional sense of being “interactive” it is a quality production for sure (minus some insanely small text). My critique is that the site is one sided. I can watch and listen to this cool thing, but I want to engage with other people about it. And I will likely, but it would have been so much cooler if that engagement was better facilitated and grouped on the site.

Social? Nope

Where they lost me is a pretty lame implementation of any interaction and real connection with the people involved with Apollo 11. They have 3 Twitter accounts hooked up to the experience (@AP11_EAGLE as Houston Control, @AP11_SPACECRAFT as Apollo 11 Craft, and @AP11_CAPCOM as the Apollo 11 Landing Craft). I think they are using Twitter integration pretty minimally, and beyond Twitter, there are tons of things they could have done to improve the social nature of the site.

I have seen several blog posts mentioning the Apollo Anniversary, including a great post of at WebInkNow by David Meerman Scott about taking some marketing lessons from Apollo. Showing me the chatter on the web about Apollo or about NASA in general would be a nice reflection on the legacy. Show me the Youtube videos and Flickr photos about NASA and Apollo. Give me a live chat on the site where I can connect to my friends on Facebook or Twitter. Get on Facebook and either create or partner with pages for each of the famous people involved in the historic day. Brand mascots, especially historic figures, are a great way to add some depth to the connection you form with the end user.

These are all minor things, but I really wanted to engage others about this cool site, a reenactment of a great moment in American History and the site did not make that easy to do.

Reach Out To Existing Social Profiles

NASA has done some cool things on Twitter and Facebook with their different missions and Mars Landers. Maybe even beef up the JFK Library Twitter account or talk to Twitter about claiming @JohnFKennedy for some rousing quotes from Kennedy’s famous speeches about going to the moon. The 3 accounts the site did use barely sent out any content (12 tweets total by my count) prior to today’s reenactment. There was no building of momentum or interest.

Show Me People, Not Anonymous Cold Call Signs

The accounts are not names, they are call signs. The account are not people, they are groups of people involved with the Apollo 11 mission, and even the lander has an account. Show me real people, a face as an avatar, one person per account. Give it some personality. I connect better with people, not call signs.

Follow Someone, Talk to Someone

The Twitter accounts as they are now do not talk to anyone but each other, do not follow anyone but each other, and in general are one way, broadcast channels. This does very little for me. What this gives me, is much more interesting if I get the live audio directly from the site. I don’t connect with it. It does not drive me to ask questions, to get involved, to engage.

It would have been a little bit of a time investment, but well worth it to assign real people to Twitter and Facebook as the actual personalities that made up the mission. A couple of the astronauts, the main voices at Mission Control, even an astronaut’s wife, or JFK, or an enthusiastic kid listening to the radio with bated breathe waiting for them to reach the moon.

Overall, it was a really nice site, and I left the amazing audio up for a little while, listening to the Apollo 11 mission. But I think the media would have shined a little more if people could interact more intimately with the story.

What do you think, was an opportunity missed or not?

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  • craigritchie

    Agree. Great post. Too many sites are still going for the wow factor “of olde,” without considering the new paradigms of user behaviour and needs… let alone the future of the social web.

  • http://mediaemerging.com Scott Hepburn

    I agree with you that there was a bit of missed opportunity here, but to fully benefit from media/interactive/social advances, NASA needs a MAJOR priority check.

    How could being more social reinvigorate interest in space exploration?
    What are the benefits of renewed interest in space?
    Would it attract new enthusiasts or just the same small cloister of geeks?
    What cultural changes would NASA need to be more compelling?
    Where should this fit on the priority list?

    With a budget of $500 gazillion, I'm torn between saying “You have the budget to pull off any social media idea you want” and “What exactly have you accomplished for $500 gazillion?”

  • guestmission

    Missed opportunity of course. As always a product can be challenged to deliver better results pending time and money. But what I do find unfair is how proper credit is never given to the appropriate key stakeholders.

    “It is a flash website by the Martin Agency…” Martin concepted the idea and creative direction but it was the guys @ Domani Studios that should get created for there good use of air and flash development.

    http://blogs.adobe.com/air/2009/07/we_choose_th...

    http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/pe...

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