Joe and I just got back from a long weekend in New York City. We had had the plans for several months already and although heaven knows we were seasoned travelers when it came to flying to and from The Big Apple (we both grew up in the area and fly up anywhere from 1 to 3 times a year), I had a question about….something. I don’t remember what. So I did what I always had done in this kind of situation and checked to see if someone else has ever asked the same question on AskTSA on Twitter. I went to their Twitter presence and got this:
Not a whole lot there.
I didn’t think much of it, because I had done the search during what would eventually become the longest government shutdown in our country’s history. So I figured, “OK, government agency, everything offline until things are back to normal again. No big deal.”
But as it turned out, that wasn’t the case. It was indeed a big deal.
The TSA Blog, which is the official online “voice” on the Transportation Security Administration, became an entity in 2008. It’s a mishmosh of a place for flyers to ask questions (i.e. can I bring a pizza onto the plane?) and for the TSA to throw out fun facts (i.e. how many weapons were discovered in carry-on bags during a specific week). The photos on the blog tended to be the most popular, so in 2013, they expanded to Instagram. To date, they have nearly 1 million followers.
The Webby award-winning Instagram feed eventually opened the door for the Twitter feed, where the same type of post were written…interesting or quirky info and a place to ask questions, all peppered with some wry humor, puns and a bunch of “dad jokes.” And with good reason – all 3 social media accounts were written by the same person – Curtis Robert Burns, widely known as “Blogger Bob.”
“Blogger Bob” started working as a Transportation Security Officer at the TSA in the Cincinnati Airport in 2002 and in 2008 he began the TSA’s official online presence, via blog format. Since then, the online media became a full time unto itself, which Bob handled from home. Here’s one of his videos from 2017:
Anyway, while doing some research on the ‘net earlier today, I unhappily discovered that Blogger Bob unexpectedly passed away of a bacterial infection in mid-October. He was only 48 years old. Blogger Bob left behind a wife, two daughters and, as noted in the New York Times, “a government agency with no clear blueprint for replicating the jaunty social media presence Mr. Burns devised.”
In looking at the TSA’s social media accounts between October and now, it appears they have found a new voice that, although not exactly the same as “Blogger Bob’s,” is, at least, an homage to him and what he did at the TSA.
I’m glad they’ve been able to find someone to pick up the baton, but Blogger Bob and his particular brand of infotainment will still be missed.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
2 comments
Nice post. thanks
Aw. Poor Bob. I didnt know who he was and now I’m sorry I didn’t.