AAVSO Facebook page reaches 2000 fans!

After passing the 1500 fans mark in April, the number of fans on the AAVSO Facebook page has grown steadily over the last four months. Tuesday, August 3, when we were just 137 people shy of the 2000 fans mark, a call went out to our members and friends through Facebook and Twitter to help us recruit enough new fans to get us over that benchmark. By 16:00UT on Thursday we had eclipsed the 2000 mark, and our ranks are still growing. Several members, including AAVSO President, Jamie Garcia were instrumental in making the final push that put us over the top.

In addition to the news items and alert notices published on the AAVSO website, the Facebook page features news and general interest items about stellar astrophysics, stellar evolution, exoplanets and other variable star related topics as a way of exposing more of the public to the efforts of the AAVSO.

The AAVSO on Facebook has become a simple, effective way of reaching an audience who otherwise might not even know about our organization. We have made our way into the hearts and minds of people in India, Pakistan, China, the Philippines, Europe and South America. The top countries outside the US following us on Facebook are, in order: Italy, Turkey, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Argentina.

Our Facebook page also reaches a higher percentage of female participants than is reflected by our membership, with more than 25% of our active Facebook users being female. We also reach a slightly younger crowd, with 45% of our fans being 25-44 years old. The question gets asked all the time, "Where will the next generation of AAVSOers come from?" Part of the answer just might be Facebook.