#High5Live Global In-Flight
Tweetathon Makes History
Panasonic Avionics Corporation has achieved a historic milestone, connecting passengers flying over five continents via Twitter in the first-ever global in-flight Tweetathon.
The conversation, hashtagged #High5Live, took place between 10:00 and 15:00 CET on April 10th, as passengers on five aircraft flying over five continents charted their journeys and interacted with earthbound Twitter users 35,000 feet below.
Passengers used Twitter to compare in-flight menus, share the results of live sports matches, plan itineraries and compete for the most Twitter mentions, using mobiles and tablets to access high-speed wireless broadband available via Panasonic’s eXConnect technology.
They also tweeted pictures of passengers and cabin crew aboard the flights, as well as stunning views from the aircraft over Greenland, Canada and the Amazon. Travelers with American Airlines, United Airlines, Lufthansa, Japan Airlines, and Aer Lingus, took part in the global exchange, sustaining a conversation spanning over five hours, 650 tweets and seven different languages. In total, the Tweetathon had an aggregated reach of over 850,000 Twitter users, resulting in almost 4 million impressions.
Several enterprising Twitter followers used flight tracking website FlightRadar to view the progress of the five aircraft whilst talking to passengers on board in real-time. Panasonic Avionics Corporation (@Panasonic_IFEC) hosted the Tweetathon on the opening day of the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg. The tweets were live-streamed to the show’s 8,000 attendees via big screens, prompting them to join in the conversation from the show floor.
David Bruner, Panasonic’s Vice President of Global Communications, said: “In-flight Wi-Fi has come of age, and our global Tweetathon demonstrates what is possible. This marks a tipping point in global communications where almost anything that can be done online on the ground is now possible in-flight. Our aim is to ensure that all travelers have access to onboard Wi-Fi, regardless of where they are going, and we are working with our airline partners to make this a reality. People will soon find it hard to believe that the sky was ever an Internet blackspot while the rest of the world was connected.”
