Not surprisingly, a 5.4 earthquake hit the greater Los Angeles area this morning, sending people to panic and clogging phone networks and making it unable to get in touch with loved ones. What would you do if you were caught in the shake?
How about "twittering" about it?
Some of you may chuckle, but that's what one Twitter account holding member did only minutes after the earth shook. As reported by CNET News, a woman by the name of Verdell Wilson was in the middle her gynecologist exam in L.A. when she decided to twitter about it.
"As soon as I got dressed, I twittered my experience from my cell phone," Wilson said. "I usually twitter to 80 friends, but I have 274 messages from people commenting on it."
Twitter has gained a lot of press attention lately and is increasingly being recognized as a personal news-wire, with this earthquake event proving that point. With the ability to text twitter to update your status in a mini-blog format, it's becoming one of the most popular ways to stay in touch with family and friends. And yes, it could save your life:) CNET has reported that in times of emergencies, phone networks can be heavily congested, making it harder to make phone calls. They also state that texting may be the best way to communicate with others. John Britton, an AT&T spokesman, said that "if you're on a wireless network and you can't get through, often texting won't be as congested."
I'm loving Twitter more and more each day.
4 comments:
I want to use this technology to pre-order from Taco Bell. I went there the other day and it took forever.
Also, I was looking at the "Why?" section of the Twitter site and I liked their first reason to use it: "Eating Soup? Research shows that moms want to know." They're probably right.
I also don't really understand the why behind twitter. as far as i understand, isn't the whole website just facebook status?
No, Colin, it's totally different.
???
Hey guys,
It's similar to a facebook status, but Twitter is centered around the whole concept of a personal news-wire. Twitter is made specifically for this reason, while Facebook is more for public info/wall posts/messages. The real joy from using Twitter comes from the ability to communicate live events/thoughts from your phone straight to your Twitter through text messages.
It sounds strange at first, believe me. I thought the same thing. check out the site again and watch the "tutorial" video for more info and check out the wikipedia page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter
all your questions will be answered there. hopefully.
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