Day of the Seafarer - a 'new media' success

The UK Club was proud to have been one of the participants in the IMO's new media initiative in celebration of the Day of the Seafarer on the 25th June.

The invitation to everyone to voice their support for seafarers through social networks generated some impressive figures, especially for those who believe our industry is conservative and perhaps slow to embrace these new media.

Initial feedback from the IMO's New Media Officer, Karine Langlois showed an enthusiastic take up on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

The Twitter is estimated to have reached half a million people. Day of the Seafarer's Twitter feed attracted some 405 regular followers in only six weeks. Their 'tweets' generated 1,775 visits through the attached links.

Facebook statistics are even more impressive. 5,800 active users and 2,186 messages of affirmation or 'likes' were generated. In total some 190,000 views were posted as comments, anecdotes and messages on seafarers, their contribution and livelihood were delivered through this social network.

For those who preferred more visual media, 24 videos were uploaded to the "seafarerday" channel on YouTube attracting 5,537 viewings during the campaign.