NASA Ames Gets Social with Yelpers

Jessica Culler

Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – In the spirit of NASA's successful series of Tweetups and forthcoming events for other new media platforms, the agency's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., will host up to 80 users of Yelp, the review-based social network, on March 8 and 16, 2012.

Yelp defines itself as "an online urban city guide that helps people find cool places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play, based on the informed opinions of a vibrant and active community of locals in the know." The NASA Ames events will be part of Yelp's "Field Trip" series of behind-the-scenes or hands-on visits to local establishments like restaurants, farms, museums or artisan workshops.

Participants, or "Yelpers," who attend the NASA Ames events will write review-type summaries of their time learning about aerospace and science to share with their friends and followers on the platform.

NASA Ames will participate by hosting three different events:

"Destination Station Space Expo," which will include a discussion panel with astronaut Rex Walheim and International Space Station scientists

"Invade our Space," an insider tour of key national research facilities at Ames

"Field Trip to the Stars," a guided tour through both NASA Ames' public visitor center and a facility that can be reserved by schools for educational activities.

Yelp was founded in San Francisco in July 2004. Yelp had a monthly average of 66 million unique visitors in the last part of 2011. At that time Yelpers had written more than 25 million local reviews about everything from boutiques and mechanics to restaurants and museums. On average, more than 5.7 million monthly visitors rely on Yelp Mobile applications to help them make decisions.

To register for the March 8 Destination Station Space Expo Yelp Field Trip, visit http://www.yelp.com/events/mountain-view-yelps-field-trip-nasas-destination-station.

To register for the March 16 Invade Our Space Yelp Field Trip, visit http://www.yelp.com/events/mountain-view-yelps-field-trip-invade-our-space-nasa.

To register for the March 16 Field Trip to the Stars, visit http://www.yelp.com/events/mountain-view-yelps-field-trip-nasas-field-trip-to-the-stars.

For information about connecting and collaborating with NASA, visit http://www.nasa.gov/connect.

To learn more about NASA Ames, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ames.

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