#Rocketober Photo Blitz

Apogee Components sent out this tweet today:

For the month of October, Apogee is holding a model rocketry photo blitz challenge on Twitter and other social media platforms.

I think this is a great idea! I'm convinced that model and high power rocketry are not only alive and well, but growing. Still, it does seem to be a somewhat underground (ironically) pursuit. Model rocketry doesn't seem to have the public profile it had in the 1960s-80s. Just three years ago, when I saw a model rocket kit at Target, I was surprised that "people still do that." Whenever I tell a new person that this is my hobby, they are always surprised. Most of them have never heard of it. A small few suddenly remember doing it as kids.

But rocketry is a hobby that I think a lot more people would enjoy if they knew about it and tried it out. A social media campaign might be a cool way of spreading awareness of rocketry.

My Twitter account is devoted solely to rocketry in general, and this blog in particular. But a lot of people have personal or professional Twitter accounts. One person I've started following recently is Sharon Robinson, who is not only the acting Joint Head of Conservation and Collection Care at the Museum of London, but also a passionate rocketeer and prolific builder. It's great to see someone sharing her love of rocketry alongside her other personal and professional activities.

The idea of the photo blitz is to tweet a rocketry photo every day in October, and tag the photo with the hashtag #Rocketober. Not a bad idea to add #ModelRocketry or #HPR to increase the engagement of the tweet (the likelihood it will be seen and shared). Apogee will re-post their favorite photos each day. And they've come up with a theme, which you can read about here.

Of course, you don't have to follow the theme, and you can post more than one photo a day. I plan on posting one Apogee theme-based photo each day, and a ton of others as well. And while I'm at it, I'll probably post them here as microposts, without much explanation.

For every photo I post on this blog, I take probably 50-100. Some are meant for later posts, some are duplicates to make sure I get the shot. And some are great, but I never find a use for them here.

Assembly line build

And there's no reason not to post #Rocketober photos on Facebook or Instagram as well, if you are on those social media platforms. Both of those support hashtags, which can be a good way for people to find things that interest them.

I hope you join me (and Apogee) in tweeting tons of rocket pics. It'll be great to see them, and re-tweet or share them. Let's see if we can get rocketry to trend!

Note: A search of the term #Rocketober brings up a few rocket-related posts from previous years, including one photo I found of a Saturn IB, as well as a couple having something to do with yoga. Who knew?

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