Australian first Twitter takeover to forge connections to Indigenous Australians

From 18-20 November, “First Contact” — a major @SBS and @NITV television event — will follow a group of six non-Indigenous Australians and immerse them into Aboriginal Australia for the first time. To tie in with the network event, @SBS has collaborated with @TwitterAU for an Australian first — a Twitter takeover of a major brand profile.

Coinciding with the three-day screening of #FirstContactSBS, the @SBS Twitter account will be run by a number of celebrated Indigenous faces, including entertainer Christine Anu (@anuchristine), former Wallabies Captain Mark Ella (@themarkella), Artist Tony Albert and more.

Reconciliation Australia Research* has found that more than sixty per cent of Aussies have had little or no contact with an Indigenous Australian.

This week, @SBS is using Twitter and #FirstContactSBS to start to try and change this.

These prominent Indigenous Australians are Tweeting across the three days to showcase the range of diverse Indigenous voices that exist across Australia in an effort to facilitate conversations with the SBS audience and wider Australia.

The @SBS Twitter takeover will add to the multiplatform network event across TV, radio and online, further promoting Indigenous culture, stories and talent nationally.

#FirstContactSBS premieres at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, 18 November on @SBS ONE and @NITV.

*Australian Reconciliation Barometer 2012