Witnessing a real-time record-breaking social media spectacle

In July 1969 the world came together to watch a grainy black and white image on television of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin taking mankind's first steps on the moon. But those who watched the Apollo 11 mission were confined to their living rooms.

This afternoon, the online world came together to witness Felix Baumgartner break multiple aerospace records in his Red Bull Stratos mission. And we shared it with each other in real-time.

Baumgartner traveled higher in a balloon than anyone – more than 127,800 ft. – and from that height he made the highest skydive, breaking a previous record that had stood for more than 50 years. While in free fall, he traveled Mach 1.24 — 833.9 miles per hour - making him the first human to travel faster than the speed of sound without being inside a craft.

It was riveting to witness – a real-time spectacle live on the web in HD that we could share via social networks. Event organizers said more than 40 television stations in 50 countries, including Discovery Channel in the U.S. and more than 130 digital outlets carried the live feed live.

A YouTube record

Another record was broken when it was reported that more than 8 million people watched a livestream of the record-breaking attempt.

I learned about the impending jump on, where else, Twitter. When I started to watch the balloon was at about 40,000 feet so I tweeted to my followers and posted on Facebook. Millions of others did the same.

It was great to watch the live stream and also keep an eye on the twitter stream. I was emailing friends in real-time. I texted my daughter when the jump was about to happen and she texted back that she was already watching. My wife Yukari Watanabe Scott was tweeting live with many of her friends in Japan.

Witnessing history. Together.

The online community came together for an hour to witness history. I don't recall anything like it. Everyone was positively giddy. For an hour we came together over one breathtaking event.

The real-time component was magnified because the team had attempted the jump several other times. Todays attempt was delayed for a few hours. So nobody knew if and when it might happen.

Unlike an Olympic event, there was no preparing. Suddenly it was on and we were compelled to watch. We told each other via social networks. Tens of millions of us alerted each other.

That the jump happened on a Sunday (it was mid-afternoon USA Eastern time) made it easy for many people to watch live.

The jump was audacious. It was incredibly visual. It was unfolding in real-time. And we could watch it together while commenting on social networks. It was one of those "I'll always remember where I was" moments.

After Baumgartner landed, Red Bull posted a picture to Facebook of him kneeling on the ground. It generated nearly 216,000 likes, 10,000 comments and more than 29,000 shares in less than 40 minutes according to the Washington Post. At the time, half of worldwide trending topics on Twitter had something to do with the jump.

Today we saw some incredible records broken.

And we also saw the future of how we will witness real-time events.

Image credit: Red Bull Stratos

Comments

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=607999382]

Thanks, David. One of things I miss about the glory days of television is the shared experiences. When I was a teenager our whole grammar school would watch Monty Python and spend the next day reliving the episode together. Seinfeld was the last "shared experience' TV show I can remember. Now social media creates a new way of sharing experinces.

[David Meerman Scott]

Yeah, back in the day when there were only a handful of television stations we had collective experiences. Now, with so much choice, they are much fewer. This one was fascinating because it wasn't "scheduled" yet we came together anyway via social networks.

[Aalaap Roy]

Wow! quite a spectacle..

[Remco Janssen]

Too bad a lot of people try to frame this as a one time stunt. Which it isn't. Red Bull had been sponsoring and participating in stunts and extreme sports for many years. For example, in The Netherlands they are known for the Red Bull Air Race (stunt flying between pawns across the river) & Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship (wicked downhill speed skating). Across the globe they host events like this, but they also participate in 'normal' sports events & teams like football - your soccer. Even in America with New York Red Bulls or in home country Austria with Red Bull Salzburg. It was bound to go this direction, which they executed brilliantly.

They only have one problem: how on earth can they ever top this one?

Perhaps the answer is in the word earth. If I was their marketing manager, I'd aim for a soccer match. On the moon!

[Sean Carpenter]

David - You're right. It was absolutely gripping to watch. When Felix gave a "thumbs up" and stepped out of that capsule, I am sure there was a collective gasp from those witnessing it, followed by a sign of relief when he softly touched down on earth.

Years from now when we see footage of this, I'll always be able to tell people that I was watching it with author/speaker/blogger David Meerman Scott...and about 8 million other people.

[David Meerman Scott]

Remco - yes, that is true about Red Bull. The things they sponsor are all about adrenaline - which, interestingly, is what their product gives you. Red Bull must have spent a huge amount of money on this one - it was more than five years in the making.

Sean - I know, right? My wife & I were watching it together, but sharing with many others. It was fascinating!

[Tom Borgman]

The coolest thing, other than the jump/fall, was when Captain Joe K. gave Check List item #whatever by saying "Raise legs...move seat forward..." and seeing, from the outside camera, Felix' legs moving on to the top of the jump ledge. Gave me goosebumps and sweaty palms. And Aalaap, I was thinking the same thing after reading shoot from the hip, uninformed comments on CNN's forum. This is the (end?) result/natural culmination of Red Bull's entire engagement marketing platform. And yes, now where do they go?? Will be fun to see.

[David Meerman Scott]

Tom - Wan't that amazing? I'm a fan of the Apollo lunar program and I own some original checklists that I have compared against the audio transcripts of when the astronauts have performed those maneuvers. But to see this live not knowing what was to come next was amazing.

[Maciej Fita]

This was amazing. I was watching this event live and I can see the Facebook status updates just building and building around the event real-time. It was clear that some people tuned in just because they saw someone else talking about it on Facebook. That is raw digital power right there.

[Twitter and Facebook management]

Really a good post, Thanks for sharing.

[Record A Call]

Once again a great job....Always very informative and well thought out. Look forward to the next one!Your advice is very useful. Thank you.