Social media success for National Tunnelling Day

18 December 2015


GREAT BRITAIN – The first UK National Tunnelling Day was held on 3 December 2015. Launched by the British Tunnelling Society Young Members, the “aim was to engage people from all walks of life about the cool and interesting tunnelling projects that are in the UK” according to former BTSYM chair Eoin O’Murchu.

The event was primarily based on social media and despite the relatively small numbers directly involved on the day the impact was surprising. Twitter Analytics revealed that, using the hashtag #TunnelDayUK, some 1.5 million people were engaged, while the industry contributed almost 1,000 tweets.

According to the BTSYM, feedback from the industry has been excellent, and companies are now clambering to get involved with promotion and event ideas.

O'Murchu added: "What we achieved with only a small team of people and a little bit of organisation was remarkable. Next year we hope to run a few events UK wide on the day, have a planned social media schedule, engage more with students and really take the day to the next level. We would love for the day to go viral so are hoping to run a campaign to make it even bigger and more successful next year."