National Geographic Channel Uses Twitter To Crowdsource a Message From Humankind; Will Beam It Into Space

June 19, 2012 by J!-ENT 

The National Geographic Channel is conducting a social experiment this summer: to crowdsource a message from the human race, and beam it out into space in an attempt to make contact with intelligent life.

Details as follows:

Back in 1977, scientists detected a transmission from space now known as The Wow! Signal. This message was thirty times stronger than anything that SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) had received (or has since) – yet to this day it remains unexplained, and more importantly, unanswered. But if The Wow! Signal really was a cosmic “tweet” from our nearest neighbors, we think it’s high time we send an @reply.

On June 29th, from 8PM ET to midnight PT, National Geographic will collect all response Tweets, tagged with the hashtag #ChasingUFOs. Then, on August 15th –the anniversary of the Wow Signal– they’ll package those tweets (along with videos recorded by VIPs including this one from Jorge Garcia) and transmit them into space from Arecibo Observatory, the world’s largest ground-based telescope (think: Contact).

Here’s a YouTube video from the hosts of “Chasing UFOs” that explains the program:

To participate, all people need to do is:
• Compose a short Twitter message of their own
• Include the #ChasingUFOs hashtag
• Tweet it on June 29, anytime between 8pm ET and midnight PT
• Pass the word to others – we want as many voices represented as possible. This is a chance to be a part of the cosmic message
• Look out for the tweets on air; they’ll be curated and streamed during showings of “Chasing UFOs”
• Then, watch for word as we’ll be packaging up those tweets and beaming them out to the great beyond on August 15th

There’s more info about The Wow! Signal and the project in general, including embeddable video, etc. at thewowreply.com.