Message in a bottle….

Canadian Harold Hackett has created his own social network in a more traditional fashion. Using bottle, paper and a pen, Mr Hackett has received over 3,100 replies from people from all walks of life and has created long term pen-pal s. Using the Atlantic ocean, Hackett sends out messages in bottles, hoping for a response and so far he has achieved a 64% return rate. Pretty impressive. I only manage probably a 30% reply rate on Facebook.

When I read this story I almost felt the need to do it myself; let fate determine who I should talk to instead of algorithms. There must be something almost magical upon finding a message in a bottle, something that I’m sure the new generation will almost never experience. I think I have only received one hand written letter in the last 10 years and that makes me slightly sad. However great I think the internet is, I find the hand written letter much more personal and special and hope for our sakes it lives on.

Good on you Harold Hackett.


Written by Tom Hancock