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TT Social Media in Emergencies.mp3On behalf of all of us here at InterWorks, I’d like to say that our hearts go out to those affected by the recent tragedies in Boston.
The day of the Boston Marathon left people all over the world scrambling to send out a successful text or phone call, to see if their friends and loved ones were safe and sound. Naturally, this bogged down phone lines everywhere, leaving many people in the dark as to whether or not their loved ones were OK.
In times like these, it’s good to remember that there are other ways of reaching out to others besides the traditional phone call or text message. Social media platforms offer effective means of communication that don’t bog down phone lines, specifically Facebook’s graph search.
When disaster rears its ugly head, you can use Graph search to locate friends in the affected area. From there you can see if they’ve posted whether or not they’re alright, and if not, you can inquire via Facebook message.
Twitter is a great resource for checking on someone’s well-being, as it is often the first platform accessed during a tragedy or disaster. Reporting of events occurs on Twitter before any other platform, social media or otherwise.
Before making the call or sending the text, check any social media platform the person in question regularly uses. This will help to free up phone lines for first responders, and those coordinating disaster response.
Have you used social media in an emergency situation? How effective was it? You can share your thoughts on our wall at facebook.com/interworks.
