Am I just a boring old fart or is anyone else distinctly underwhelmed by august institutions boasting about their presence on social media?

The latest to join the narcissistic tendency is the RNLI no less, whose London and South East spokesman James Oxley has issued the following press release:

‘A London lifeboat volunteer was staggered to discover a photo he posted on twitter has been retweeted almost 25,000 times around the world, as far afield as Lapland, Barbados and Korea.

Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crewman Matt Leat posted the photo over the weekend from his lifeboat station’s twitter feed @towerrnli. It featured his crewmates aboard London lifeboat Brawn Challenge shrouded in mist at Tower Bridge on the River Thames in London.

The photo was accompanied by the message: ‘We have been set a challenge to see how far this picture can travel on twitter – A RT is easy and costs nothing!’

The tweet spread like wildfire to millions of twitter users around the world, receiving retweets from famous faces including television presenters Jake Humphrey, Gaby Logan and Kirstie Allsopp, as well as Capital FM radio presenter Dave Berry.

Matt, who volunteers at London’s Tower lifeboat station by Waterloo Bridge on the River Thames, said: ‘My iphone hasn’t been able to keep up with the twitter alerts due to the phenomenal response. When I posted the photo I thought it might get a couple of hundred retweets but I’m staggered at how popular it has proved in just a couple of days.

‘”I think it’s been successful because it’s a great photo featuring an iconic London landmark that people recognise. But more importantly, retweeting the photo has been a way for people to show their support for the RNLI. We’re a charity made up of volunteers who risk their lives to save others on a daily basis. People like to show their support for that and we’re really grateful to them.”‘

Doubtless if Grace Darling had been able to take a selfie off the Forfarshire she wouldn’t have done.