Twitter: An Emergency Life Line.

 

Twitter, when you read or hear this phrase, what exactly would come to mind first? asking around, I hear phrases like celebrities, The Kardashians, food, news and the infamous word we all hear but for some may not know exactly the context of its use... The hash tag (#).

Social media sites like Twitter are extremely popular averaging around "313 million users in the second quarter of 2016"(Statista,2016) and its especially popular in those under the age of 40.

If we sat down and listed the reasons we used social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, the one reason that many people would never list is the fact that it can be used to saves lives. Yes you read this post correctly Twitter can saves lives, It may even save yours too one day.

Twitter has been responsible for significantly helping those in need from natural disasters to police man hunts. If you take for example the devastating events that happen in Fukushima, Japan, in 2011, where an earthquake measuring a whopping 9.0 magnitude (Ripley,Ougura,Griffths,CNN,2016) on the Rictor scale shook apart the town, which was then followed by as serious tsunami some time later.

This disaster caused serious damage and loss of life to the city. Twitter accounts lit up with real time videos tweets and images of what was occurring way before any media news outlet outside of Japan knew what was going on.

This began a trend of Tweets informing people of aid, where to find help, people Tweeting there exact location so they could be rescued and 24/7 updates on what was going during this disaster. A Twitter hashtag called #prayforJapan was also set up so people could follow what was going on and share their remorse. Twitter also caused celebrities to help take action and drum up so much needed aid for this city in crisis. For example:

The same thing occurred when the Boston Bombings had occurred at a marathon in 2013. People again were sharing real-time videos, and images of what happened and began tweeting their views on what happened  and what they had witnessed. This information in fact helped police in piecing together the events that had taken place, the police even used  twitter to help find the culprit behind this terrible crime.

              

As we can see here social media tools like Twitter are very powerful and are not to be taken as lightly as they are, Twitter has helped with directing and support aid efforts which has  save many lives that would have been lost if it wasn’t for the website.

Twitter themselves have even cottoned on to what has been happening and in turn created “Twitter alerts” Twitter had this to say on their new feature “Today, we’re launching Twitter Alerts, a new feature that brings us one step closer to helping users get important and accurate information during emergencies, natural disasters or when other communications services aren’t accessible”(Coyne,2013)

 

When the police/emergency services have important information that needs to be spread to a wider audience, the account holder can mark the tweet as an alert and an “orange bell" symbol will appear on the Tweet signifying it’s an alert. (Coyne, 2013).

This will make saving lives and warning  people of impending danger much easier. Which in turn will save time that can be used to help in aiding victims.

So the next time your about to tap your 148 characters into Twitter, remember how powerful the tools at your disposal really are.

Its also good to note the power of the Tweet,  because you never know, your next Tweet could save someone's life. 

Until next time friends, 

Stay Social Media Minded!

Sources:

Association for media literacy (2013) Boston Marathon bombing police [online] available:http://www.aml.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Boston-Marathon-Bombing-Boston-Police-Twitter-1.jpg [accessed 10/10/16]

Coyne.B, (2013) Introducing Twitter Alerts, Twitter blogs,[online]25 September, available: M:\Introducing Twitter Alerts _ Twitter Blogs.htm [accessed 10/10/16]

Huffington Post. (2013) Boston Marathon Bombing Timeline: The Week in 50 Tweets, 5 Videos [online] available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-kanalley/boston-marathon-bombing-timeline_b_3125721.html [accessed 10/10/16]

Ourga,Griffths,Ripley(2016) Fukushima: Five years after Japan's worst nuclear disaster,CNN[online]available : http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/08/asia/fukushima-five-year-anniversary/ [accessed 10/10/16]

Statista (2016) Number of monthly active Twitter users worldwide from 1st quarter 2010 to 2nd quarter 2016 (in millions) available: M:\Twitter number of active users 2010-2016 _ Statista.htm [accessed 10/10/16]

Sideways Thoughts.(2011) Japan’s earthquake and tsunami: On prayer, Twitter, and tweeted prayers[online],available: https://www.google.ie/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiv4c-T0NDPAhVBSRoKHZiWBDMQjB0IBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sidewaysthoughts.com%2Fblog%2F2011%2F03%2Fjapan-earthquake-and-tsunami-on-prayer-twitter-and-tweeted-prayers%2F&bvm=bv.135258522,d.ZGg&psig=AFQjCNEmfnPHPbNx2b3xWLRJ4k-AEtle9A&ust=1476202137021785 [accessed 10/10/16]