Social Media in Time of Disasters

Dear Reader,

     As a blossoming social media user, I am amazed at how instrumental it truly can be when disaster strikes. Take the recent two earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. People have been using Twitter and others social media tools to find family and friends when other forms of communication have been cut off. Power lines fall and electricity goes out, but people still have Internet access...espcially on their mobile devices. So they scurry to post on Twitter and Facebook. They search the Web for traces of those they desperately hope have made it through the catastrophy alive.

     Because so many people are social media users, those in the area of the disaster may be able to report events, deaths, injuries, and lives saved than reporters, rescue squads, and law officers. It allows for citizens to help in some small way. While fallacies can be perpetuated due to incomplete information, factual accounts can also spread rapidly. In some ways, social media in the hands of general users is taking over the place of reporters.

    Social media also allows people to express their concern and support to those who are effected  by traumatic events. Twitter is now replete with messages from people expressing their sadness over the quake in Chile. There is also indignation over topics that are more popular than the terremoto. Ironically, this adds to the volume of references to those stigmatized subjects.

     Social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, is changing the way in which we respond to disasters. People who aren't in the Communication or Social Media field are able to play a larger part in informing the public. Support groups, friends and relatives are able to still communicate even with power outages. Information travels so much faster and this may lead to saved lives, relieved friends and family, and other untold miracles.