Born and raised in the Midwest, I believe in one way or another we all acquired a keen fascination (or terror) for meteorology and the wrath of Mother Nature. As we saw this week in Joplin, last month in Tuscaloosa and last year in Hammond – destruction of tornadic magnitude is out of our hands. But as we’ve also seen when these disasters hit (whether as severe or not) what we do have in our hands is the power to inform. And we’re informing on social media.
Sunday evening, as I sat on the couch in my South City home, I had the TV on, iPhone in hand, laptop on, well, my lap. Each avenue of technology was delivering the bits of information I was anxiously awaiting. Local TV stations have long been the go-to source for up-to-the-minute weather information and warnings in unstable situations such as those displayed yesterday. But I already knew there were storms coming; I wanted to know what they were doing.
Twitter was abuzz. I follow over 1,000 users, most of who reside in the St. Louis Metro. My Hootsuite feed could barely keep up with the 10 tweets per second. Photos of damage, hail measurements, rain intensity and simply, descriptions of the sky as the storm rolled in. By the time the impending storm reached my neighborhood, we endured a bout of heavy rain and some thunder. But once all was said and done with the evening storms, I wasn’t quite ready to power down my up-to-the-second newsfeed. Joplin was destroyed and I wanted details.
Retweets were flying through my stream faster than I could keep up. People were tweeting to make contact with family and friends in and around Joplin; survivors were clarifying their well-being; Red Cross was directing folks to their Safe and Well site; raw audio and video began erupting; pleas were made to medical personnel to flock to southwest Missouri, and info on crisis center locations were being established.
A Facebook page, Joplin, MO Tornado Recovery, was created that evening on the relief efforts already being set in place. At 9pm on Sunday, it had already gained 6,800 likes. At 9am on Monday, over 50,000 and not even 48 hours after the tornado struck, nearly 150,000. Because of this Facebook page, people have gained contact with loved ones affected by the storm, provided resources to Joplin area residents established opportunities for donation and simply been a way to say, ‘Joplin, we’re with you’.
My respect and fascination with social media takes on a whole new meaning when such monumental national and international events like this occur. Social media is no longer just another option to chat with old friends, potential colleagues and fellow professionals. It’s a commercial-free instantaneous avenue for answers and if you’re not on-board now, you risk being left behind.
To make a donation to the relief efforts taking place in Joplin, please text:
REDCROSS to 90999 for a $10 donation to the American Red Cross
Joplin to 864833 for a $10 donation to the Heart of Missouri United Way
JOPLIN to 80888 for a $10 donation to The Salvation Army
