Out Of This World: Cosmonaut Maksim Surayev And His Blog
There used to be a time in Russia when cosmonauts were more popular than movie stars. Back in the day, most people knew their names by heart. Now, hardly anyone in Russia can name a single Russian cosmonaut, aside from maybe Yuri Malenchenko who made headlines when he got married in space in 2003. Yet, decades ago, cosmonauts were more than celebrities. They were these unapproachable legends that everybody aspired to. No one ever saw them or talked to them, but people would cut out their photos from newspapers and hang them in their kitchens. But, that was when "cosmos" was every kid's dream, and cosmonauts were the selected few who got a chance to get that much closer to it.
Maksim Surayev - Photo by Russian Federal Space Agency
Nowadays, despite the fact that cosmonauts in Russia are largely unknown, they are way more accessible than they used to be. One example is Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev, who keeps his own "in-space" blog. Surayev has been onboard the International Space Station for over three months now and has been blogging live from space all this time. I have to say I got hyper like a kid when I started reading his stuff. Surayev talks about all the different fun gadgets that he gets to play with at the station and explains cool space phenomena with photos and videos attached. He also answers questions from his readers. For example, his last post was addressing a question about the rumour that astronauts get bright flashes in their eyes when they try to go to sleep in space. According to Surayev, that is totally true!
And, in case you were wondering, Surayev does not blog in English...yet.
Now don't you wish Yuri Gagarin kept a blog back in the day? That would make for one fun read.
The President Of Russia Is A Blogger: But Is He The Only National Leader Out There Who Blogs?
Of all the people on Earth, the last person I would expect to blog would be the President of Russia. Why? Because history has it that the leaders of Russia have never been known to be flexible thinkers, which imho is a "must" to be a blogger. Would not ya all agree, my fellow bloggers?
And yet, President Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev does keep a blog – and from the looks of it, he blogs with a certain degree of interest and even enthusiasm. It looks like Medvedev’s blog is not just another promotional “about me” page put together by a bunch of government PR people. I can usually sense when a person actually spends some time on their blog and takes time to read the comments to revise their content accordingly. And, I can say Medvedev’s blog is not just a barrage of unconnected and wordy posts. Medvedev also seems to have a knack for videoblogging. Sometimes, he just seems to get that old webcam going, and records video messages for his online audience.
Russia’s TV Channel One reported just recently that the number of comments on Medvedev’s blog is approaching 110,000! In his video entry devoted to the one year anniversary of his blog’s existence (see below), Medvedev notes that he takes time to read all of the comments, saying he likes the fact that people do not just complain to him, but also offer viable solutions to some of the problems. He said he hoped that people would eventually stop thinking that blogging in not a "President's thing to do."
Medvedev can even be found on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/ru_medvedev
Oh, and he uses a Mac. So, PC people, shriek!
But, is Mr. Medvedev the only political leader out there who blogs or engages in the social media one way or another?
Well, you would be surprised. Here is a list of political leaders who tapped their feet into the unfamiliar social media waters:
- the controversial President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used to blog here http://www.ahmadinejad.ir/ but his last post dates to December 2007
- Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is big on blogging and is all-in-all quite a media type. He currently blogs here http://blog.planalto.gov.br/. What is more, de Silva hosts his own radio show - Café com o Presidente
- Australia’s Kevin Rudd blogs here http://www.kevinpm.com.au/
- Shimon Perez of Israel is here http://www.haaretz.com/peres
- British PM Gordon Brown can be found here http://gordon-brown.blogspot.com/ (**authenticity questionable)
- Queen Elizabeth II of the U.K. has a YouTube channel of her own -- The Royal Channel, offering some relatively fresh content and boasting over 2 million views
- Well, Queen Elizabeth is certainly not the only one with YouTube ambitions. The Vatican also has a channel with one million channel views
- Portuguese president Aníbal Cavaco Silva is on Twitter at http://twitter.com/presidencia
- Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has a radio show of his own -- Alo Presidente has produced a whopping 341 episodes
- Now, Queen Rania, the queen of Jordan, gets the #1 media guru title from me. She is all over platforms. She has a YouTube channel, a website and a Twitter account -- all of which seem to be rather current and worth a read.
What was really surprising to me is that some of the key political leaders are nowhere to be found on the Web. No Sarkozy, no Obama, no Merkel blogging or Tweeting. Instead, politicians with more-or-less visible web presence are in charge of the countries that are far from being political powerhouses on the international arena. Mr. Medvedev seems to be one of the few exceptions...
**Big thanks to my friend Luiz Brandao Jr for helping me assemble all this info.