Monday, September 20, 2010

Seeing the power of social media in action.

I am in the midst of a social media barrage, primarily from Twitter. Tonight a fire rages about 15 miles from my home. Friends that live in the area have evacuated or are ready to at a moment's notice. Over 1400 homes in all have be evacuated and at this point there are reports of at least 3 homes burned. Since I started following the twitter hash #Herrimanfire around 10:00 pm, there have been at least 1,500 messages come through. 

The local news covered the fire as a top story, then most when finished went on to regular programming. One station (props to Fox 13 for staying on top of and with the story until 12:30 also they have been a major part of the twitter coverage) just finished reporting for now. On the other hand, one of our local newspapers just tweeted out the top 20 volleyball teams in the state, however nothing about the fire.But the twitter stream continues at a tremendous rate.

The information from the twitter stream has apparently been very accurate and been cited by the news and vice versa. It has been fascinating to observe and participate in this experience. That it is so close to home and even closer to friends makes important to me and those around. Even more interesting is seeing messages come in from around the country from people that have lived in the area or have family in the area. 

It has been an interesting night.

 

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