Silverware, a blue tick and tens of thousands of fans: all signs that supporters like you are enjoying keeping in touch with the RNLI using the internet.

The RNLI's website, relaunched in Summer 2012, recently won Best in Class at the 2012 Interactive Media Awards in the Charity category. It also won a Silver Award at the 2012 Digital Impact Awards.

There have been social media successes too – if you look at twitter.com/RNLI, you’ll see we have a blue tick. It’s a prestigious symbol used as a mark of authenticity by Twitter, earned with the help of our 30,000 followers.

Meanwhile facebook.com/RNLI now has over 55,000 fans, with a potential reach of 10M people. But what are people saying on social media? To get a taste, see page 39.