on curiosity, real-time web and shared experiences.

Millions of people around the world just gathered on their computers, tablets and mobile devices to share an amazing event, for many of them in the wee hours of the night. That it was not a sporting event, award show or tragedy but instead the triumph of science — the landing of the rover Curiosity on Mars — is heartening to those who wonder about the human condition. But it was significant also in how NASA presented it and we consumed it.

If the event represented a test of how to use the real-time web and social media, NASA passed with flying colors. Their main webstream at nasa.gov functioned well and was filled with interesting content. No babbling talking heads or ads interrupted a flow of informed, yet accessible, commentary on the project, the science involved, the goals of the mission and every step as Curiosity approached the surface of Mars. The page featured an embedded social media feed for additional context. And the @CuriosityRover Twitter feed was friendly, funny and engaging. Perhaps even a bit cheeky, judging by the tweet that marked it landing on the surface:

And yes, even though it happened at an hour many reasonable people are in bed (around 1:30 a.m. Eastern), as of this morning it had 61,046 retweets and 10,582 folks favorited it. Its use of the “I am in you” meme and the first images being sent with cute notes like “You asked for pics from my trip. Here you go!” gave it more personality than most brands even develop in social media.

Its juxtaposition against NBC’s disastrous delayed-broadcasting Olympics coverage and resistance to use adequate webstream resources was best summed up, just before the landing, when the satirical @NBCDelayed account Tweeted: PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be showing the @MarsCuriosity landing on Tuesday at 8PM local. The real network had time-shifted the opening ceremony well into the night (refusing to webstream it) and faced criticism for its announcers making derogatory comments during the Parade of Nations. It doesn’t take, well, a rocket scientist to see how much better NASA’s execution was than NBC’s hamhanded, outmoded coverage.

The idea of a shared experience — such as Neil Armstrong walking on the moon or our communal horror at the Challenger explosion — seems almost outdated because the content we consume and the distribution channels are more diverse than ever. Between all the cable channels, web pages and gaming systems, audiences are increasingly fragmented. And yet to check out Facebook or Twitter during this time was to see a robust community celebrating this momentous achievement through observations ranging from snarky to sublime.

With the Curiosity landing, the shared social element added so much to its appeal. My two brothers and I, three space geeks separated by the miles, all watched, interacted and reminisced about launching Estes rockets in our neighbors’ field. Whatever your adult responsibilities, it’s hard to watch this and not feel like an 8-year-old with wide-eyed wonder and a sense that anything is possible.

For all the technology involved, the sights many will remember involve humans — all the scientists hugging, cheering and exchanging high-fives. Victory is not confined to the sporting arenas by any means, and the authentic emotion washing over these people, seeing years of work come to fruition, was beyond heartwarning. If that can convince more youngsters to go into the sciences, to pursue and achieve even more ambitious dreams, that will be a true win for us all.

#140cuse in review: talk about the passion.

If one word resonated across the inaugural edition of the fast-moving #140cuse conference, it was passion. Sure, the conference of mostly 10-minute presentations at Syracuse University focused on social media and the real-time web, but the passion of presenters and speakers for communicating, for connecting and for humanity came through loud and clear. Some examples:

• George Couros, an education leader at the Parkland School Division in Alberta, discussed “140 Characters of Kindness,” including a heartbreaking story about how many people connected with him when his beloved dog died. Just as relationships are the foundation of good schools, he said, hashtags are the foundation of community on Twitter. “If you think the web’s just a place to ‘look up stuff,’ you’re missing the best part,” the connections, he noted.
• Harrison Kratz, the community manager for the MBA program at the University of North Carolina, said things like the battle against SOPA, Occupy Wall Street and 2008 election provided examples of how to rally people behind causes they believe in. He noted that while leaders are important, without the passion of followers no change is possible.
• Jeff Pulver, founder of the #140conf movement and VoIP pioneer, discussed “Being Vulnerable in the Era of the Real-Time Web.” Noting his passion for ham radio, he said connecting — not technology — is what drives social media. He believes listening, connecting, sharing and engaging are the four most important actions and that emotion is the medium’s truest currency.
• And Amanda Hite of Talent Revolution closed the conference in style, urging attendees to pull together their most passionate advocates to do a one-day focused call to action. She discussed her 30-day lifestyle challenge via social media which picked up an amazing number of participants. She charged everyone at the conference to tweet something they wanted to accomplish with a #bethechange hashtag, and the results were wonderful.

Other topics included building community among cancer survivors, a few different sessions on connecting passionate sports fans, engaging citizens in scientific discovery, music fans across the web bonding over their first concert and how passionate social media users can make a difference any day.

Oh, and I did a session on our 24 Hours in Photos project, which was neat and I’m happy people responded positively to it. But the real news was learning about the amount of passion out there in social media just waiting to connect, and what awesome things are possible when it happens.

whrrl: geosocial graduations, building societies and more.

If not for the piece I wrote on geosocial media for the January issue of CASE Currents, I may not have checked out Whrrl. It’s not as well-known as the likes of Facebook and Foursquare but, in some ways, it holds as much promise as any location-based platform.

Whrrl allows you to do all the things we’ve come to expect of geosocial apps, such as check in, receive mysterious points and leave metadata (in this case, a Note). You can add photos as well, although this feature is not as novel as it was when I wrote the initial geosocial blog series. It also has perhaps the cleanest, most intuitive interface of any location-based service.

But one feature I love is the Society function that allows you to find, connect and interact with those whose checkins show similar interests … i.e. coffeeshops, live music, etc. within a geospatial construct. Unlike most geosocial apps, Whrrl’s Society feature actively promotes the possibility of expanding one’s network.

I also like the Ideas tab, a memo-like function that allows you to record thoughts on things you’d like to do in these spaces (“try the Al Roker sub,” “check out the organic vegetable section,” “look into renting kayaks”). This links users more tightly with spaces and real-life activities. (There’s also the Fun Fact, which I haven’t figured out yet.)

But one of the coolest things (as mentioned in the January CASE magazine article) is how St. Edward’s University in Texas used Whrrl to create, as the college’s director of communication, Mischelle Diaz termed it, the first “socially-connected graduation ceremony” last year. For its 125th anniversary, St. Edward’s partnered with Whrrl to create an additional level of connectivity and excitement to the event.

“With Whrrl, we were able to capture real-time texts and photo submissions from graduates and other audience members,” Diaz said. “This allowed graduates and their families to see photos and texts from everyone at the event, not just the photos they were able to take themselves.”

They faced the challenge of Whrrl’s low user base — its main current drawback for any user — by using various campus communication and social-media channels, pitches to student and regional media as well as a pre-graduation Happy Hour signup event. They focused less on the technology (shiny object) and more on, as Diaz called it, “a significant life experience” and “recording a moment of history for the university.” Putting people and goals in front of technology! How excellent.

“Given this was our first attempt at using social media at such a large event, live, in such a visible way, we were very pleased,” Diaz said. “We took our cues about the success of the project from the audience reactions during the live slide show. There was lots of laughter and enthusiasm. After the event we did more Facebook posts with links to the Whrrl slide show, which is still accessible.”

If, as SCVNGR’s Jeffrey Kirchick said on last weekend’s HigherEdLive, the future of geosocial is not merely checking in, but in connecting and creating memorable experiences, then the underdog Whrrl may yet become more of a destination for users.