In the past week or so, social media has been saving people's lives nationwide. As many of you know, there was a horrific 8.9 earthquake and tsunami that occurred in the heart of Japan. Many people have died and are still missing. Relatives and friends from all over the world have been trying to seek their loved ones but still are not able to reach them since many of the landlines are down. However, thanks to Facebook,Twitter, and Youtube people were able to reach out to others for help.When the earthquake first occurred many people logged onto their Twitter accounts and tweeted about what was going on. By mid-day there were tons of pages praying for Japan and leaving comments to those who were looking for their family. Two primary hashtags was #tsunami and #prayforjapan. These pages were getting at least a thousand tweets per second discussing about the topic.I guess Charlie Sheen has some competition on his hands.
Besides Twitter, people were constantly updating their statuses on Facebook and created multiple fan pages to show their support for the residents in Japan. Those who lived in Japan were also able to post a few comments about their experience and sometimes posted a clip of the earthquake. When 5 o'clock finally approached on Friday, the earthquake/tsunami became totally viral on the internet.
Other than for social network sites, Google joined in and made a Google Person Finder for people to either post comments or find their missing family and friends. The site is setup almost as a blog but it enables for us to try to communicate with those overseas. I happened to get in contact with someone from Japan because I had emailed them from this particular site.
We all bad-mouth social media constantly and say sometimes that it is a waste of time but when events like this occur, social media goes above and beyond. Without social media who knows if we would know half the stories that we know right now. Even media conglomerates are using this sites as their primary source of information since its recent and its right from the source's mouth.
If you want to try to find your loved one or friend from Japan, check out Google's site:
http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com/?lang=en
*Be advised some people are not from Japan and are trying to seek soul mates instead of trying to reconnect with Japan residents*
- Elisa Cervone
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