Twitter! Huh! What is it good for? Absolutely ......... well ..... something
There have been a good number of posts on my friends list just recently about Twitter. People joining it and searching it and asking if it's worth it, what the point of it is. And I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan and don't have any need for it just now.
However, apparently it's been quite a life line and powerful communication tool for those in Australia affected by the worst bushfires in the history of it's European settlement. You can see the story here. (please note that if you click through the coverage on the ABC website, some of it is incrediably distressing, I've been crying on and off for the last 2 days and I'm one of the lucky ones, who doesn't seem to have lost any family or friends as yet)
It seems that it is being used in the same way a bunch of us kept track of the events of September 11 2001 on Live Journal. I was part of a online community called Barbelith, with community members all over the world and it was a way for all of us to find out what was happening, to verify news reports and to have those people we knew were in New York check in.
Same also for the 7/7 London Tube bombings, with mobile phone networks overwhelmed, it was another way for people to get in touch with a wide bunch of friends to check in and offer support and again try to work out what was happening. It is very interesting to see how social media has moved on since then, as people have become used to and their lives more entwined with the technology.
So I'm not saying that Twitter and Live Journal are the most powerful tools evah!!!1111!!, but they are certainly a very useful thing in times of emergency.
However, apparently it's been quite a life line and powerful communication tool for those in Australia affected by the worst bushfires in the history of it's European settlement. You can see the story here. (please note that if you click through the coverage on the ABC website, some of it is incrediably distressing, I've been crying on and off for the last 2 days and I'm one of the lucky ones, who doesn't seem to have lost any family or friends as yet)
It seems that it is being used in the same way a bunch of us kept track of the events of September 11 2001 on Live Journal. I was part of a online community called Barbelith, with community members all over the world and it was a way for all of us to find out what was happening, to verify news reports and to have those people we knew were in New York check in.
Same also for the 7/7 London Tube bombings, with mobile phone networks overwhelmed, it was another way for people to get in touch with a wide bunch of friends to check in and offer support and again try to work out what was happening. It is very interesting to see how social media has moved on since then, as people have become used to and their lives more entwined with the technology.
So I'm not saying that Twitter and Live Journal are the most powerful tools evah!!!1111!!, but they are certainly a very useful thing in times of emergency.