Social Media Impact during a crisis and beyond.

As news of the devastating earthquake continues to come out I find myself pondering the role of Social Media in so much of our lives.  Not so long ago, our only source of what had happened would have come from traditional print media – the daily paper or perhaps the weekly news magazine.  Even sources like CNN might have only had some basic information while they got the right people in place to let us know what was going on.  But last week the earthquake happened and almost instantly the world was finding out about it.

The information was coming directly from people  there.  Immediate.  Instantaneous. It is the power of the social media that I find amazing.  Survivors tweet “I’m alive.”  Families search for loved ones through Facebook.  A donation to a charity can be texted from a phone.  It not only makes us aware, it makes it personal. 

We can talk about social media in learning, but really isn’t it almost all about learning something?  Immediate.  Instantaneous.  Relevant.  Learning about events far away and their impacts at home.  Learning about how you can make a difference.  And perhaps that is the power that we are only starting to explore. 

By: Stephanie Pyle

Comments

[Bruce Smith]

And yet some companies STILL look at the Social Media phenomenon as a scary, threatening, non-value added tool. Fear remains our enemy!