While many people might pack a message in a bottle and toss it out to sea once or twice in their lifetimes, Harold Hackett has done it 4,800 times in 20 years, BBC reported Monday. His rate of return messages is pretty impressive: 3,100.
BBC calls Hackett's message system social networking in its oldest form. He gives only a postal address as contact information, ensuring he'll get a written reply to keep as a souvenir. His letters in a bottle have reached Africa, Russia, Holland, Canada and various parts of the United States, including Florida and Rhode Island, he says. In some cases, it's taken more than a decade to get a reply.
If you're not patient enough to wait a decade or longer for a reply, a more modern form of social networking using a message in a bottle might appeal to you. Oceangram has transformed the old-fashioned message in a bottle into an online communication system accessible by the landlocked as well as shore dwellers. And so far it seems to work a little faster than relying on the serendipity of ocean waves. The way Oceangram works is this: Senders compose a message, seal it in a virtual bottle and send it off on the virtual ocean's waves. While there's no telling where the ocean currents will take any given message, only one person is able to see it on their computer screen and pick it up at a time. Whoever picks up a bottle, opens it, and reads the message inside can choose to "retire" the message or compose their own addition and send it out again for someone else to find.
Oceangram launched in 2006. In three years, it has delivered 5 million messages. For those who are curious about where their messages ended up, there's a tracking system. It's not quite as much fun as a postal letter from a distant continent, but if you live far from the ocean and patience isn't your forte, Oceangrams have some advantages. Oceangram also supports a personalized message capability for sending out messages in a bottle targeted to specific people in lieu of an e-card.
How much does it cost? Absolutely nothing. There are a few commonsense rules like no illegal solicitations, no abuse, porn, copyright violations, hate mail, viruses, or similar mean-spirited activities that violate the spirit of sending a message in a bottle. If you're hoping to catch up with Harold Hackett's impressive record, you still have a lot of messages to compose whether you head for the ocean or log onto your computer.
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