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David Johnston stands over a table filled with private objects confiscated at Dulles International Airport: a glittering pouch with brass American punches. A perfume bottle shaped like a pomegranate. A rusty circular saw blade. A pocket fork.
None of those who are right. Then Johnston sees it: a guitar shaped like a semi-automatic rifle. Bingo This will be perfect for the Social Media accounts of the Transportation and Security Administration.
Johnston, the social media director of the TSA, follows in the footsteps of Curtis "Bob" Burns, who has created an unlikely internet craze for this agency not always loved by introducing the strangest objects in their luggage by hand. He died suddenly in October at age 48.
Burns' work has created a model for other federal agencies. The unusual photos, combined with a high dose of daddy humor, attracted more than a million followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, who were then able to see important messages on the backs and backs. things to avoid air transport.
"How are we going to replace Bob? The reality is we can not," said Johnston. "We had a unique situation with him, but we can always be entertaining and help people as we find the way to go without him."
On the blog, Burns shared a weekly number of firearms that TSA officers found at checkpoints across the country. He recapitulated the knives and all the strange and sometimes frightening things that travelers had stuffed into their bags, their pockets, their purses or their briefcases.
In an Instagram post, someone tried to put a glove with razors for the fingers and Burns (of course) did a joke "Nightmare on Elm Street".
"He's sure to sleep again in Elm Street." Freddy lost his glove at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL).
The agency's Instagram account won three Webby Awards last year, including the People's Voice Award for its bizarre social content marketing. In his thank you speech, Burns looked at the price, shook it and said, "This Webby is approved as hand luggage!"
Johnston, who had been with Burns for about three years and had been in government for almost 10 years, tried to keep it on his own, but it was difficult.
Johnston sent a Valentine message showing a star, an ax and a two-edged dagger confiscated in the passenger's hand luggage. ("Have a good trip, romantic idiot!") And it was recently National Puppy Day, so it was an excuse for a photo of Cole, a TSA explosive detector dog with big eyes.
TSA strengthens its social media staff – recruiting three more to expand its presence on social media. Staff will continue to use feed sent by agents from across the country, who grab all sorts of unusual items that people are trying to bring on board. But it's hard to find people who have both the government's know-how and a sense of humor that resonates.
Johnston said that what made the Burns posts so special was Burns himself. "When you look at his messages, you see a window in his soul – it was really his heart, he was a fun and happy guy."
Burns' sister-in-law, Candy Creech, said that he had a sense of dry humor and a strong dose of patriotism: he had served in the Gulf War. Burns had worked in airports before seizing social media and thought that there was a public negativity around TSA. He wanted to change that.
"And I think that he thought he could change that by communicating with people in a way that did not reprimand him," she said. "He was one of a kind."
At a live on TSA on Facebook, the episode "Ask Me Anything" from last year, Burns said the success of this account was partly due to the value of the shock.
"People do not come on an Instagram account of the government and are not experts to see the humor," Burns said. "And they are not expecting to see those crazy things that people are trying to bring on a plane."
In Dulles, in the Forbidden Items section, Johnston sees some possibilities for the TSA's YouTube series "What did they bring?" including a large snow globe with a large white fairy trapped in some kind of liquid (this is scary and it has liquid, so that they can highlight the liquid restrictions.)
He passes over the four pairs of nunchucks (yawn, you can not believe how many people bring them) and a handful of pocket knives. He stops in front of a big ball from Afghanistan that has been turned into a lighter and a pen.
"What people think," he says. Becoming more serious for a moment, Johnston emphasizes the importance of showing these objects, especially to people who have not traveled much.
"Our social media pages allow travelers to be better informed, which allows them to have a better experience, so our officers are able to do what they have to do: search for bad actors", did he declare.
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