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vii. Twitter: SummaryOver the last five years, Yuri’s Night has clearly improved their Twitter-based socialmedia engagement. There is a trend each year toward more posts and increased engagement withthe Twitter community. This engagement comes through both the increasingly large array ofinformation being retweeted by the organization to bring content to their followers and the postsmentioning members of the Twitter community to communicate specialized messages.Engagement with Yuri’s Night is increasing as more users retweet their posts, especially originalcontent; a larger degree of their posts are seen by the organization’s followers as importantenough to share with other users.b. YouTubeYuri’s Night hoped to use YouTube to further emphasis the cultural and arts aspects ofthe organization’s mission and to appeal to younger consumers with a taste for multimediaexperiences though use of public personas and contests. 26 Examination of YouTube is somewhattricky as views are over the lifetime of the video and information is not available to know whenthe views took place. Therefore, it is prudent to consider comparing videos across the same yearas opposed to videos across time. While someone is unlikely to stumble upon an old Tweet orFacebook post and engage with it, a person can easily find and watch older YouTube videos.i. YouTube: 2009Yuri’s Night has made use of YouTube since January 22, 2009. 27 The first video theorganization posted was a space history music video that, to this date, has only generated 127views. However, the second video, posted immediately after the first, features the band Big HeadTodd and the Monsters. A montage of space videos appears in the background as they play theirsong “Blue Sky.” This second video has had more success with over 17,000 views to date.Discussions with Yuri’s Night Executive Director (and co-author) Jeffrey Alles suggests that theorganization’s collaborative arts/human interest videos always draw more interaction andintention. 28 The organization’s first post on Twitter clearly communicated its mission, and thesefirst videos on YouTube equally demonstrated its purpose. The higher number of views thesecond video received suggests that the use of celebrity endorsement, or at least usingpersonalities that the public recognizes readily, can boost overall awareness of Yuri’s Night andspace exploration.25 The Yuri’s Night Year is used here. For example, Yuri’s Night 2008 includes portions ofcalendar years 2007 and 2008, enumerated in the table for reader convenience. Yuri’s Night yearruns from June 1 – May 31st.26 Alles, Jeffrey W. (2014, March 1). Interview by author.27 Yuri’s Night (2009, January 22). Retrieved fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JkDXJCu0_8. For other videos, Yuri’s Night’s YouTubeaccount available at http://www.youtube.com/yurisnight.28 Alles, Jeffrey W. (2014, March 1). Interview with author.© 2015 Astrosociology Research Institute40