We have all seen the significant impact that the current major players in social media such as Facebook and Twitter have had in the last few years: enhancing communication and interaction between people, shaping the way businesses market themselves, just to name a couple. Social media revolutionized the way people and businesses connect with each other.
This phenomenon is once again proven with the recent tragic events in Japan.
Due to the damage caused by the tsunami, phone lines are barely working. The death toll keeps going up at a rapid rate and many people with loved ones in Japan are devastated to get in touch with them.
Fortunately, while the earthquake and tsunami knocked out the electricity supplies among many other things, Internet is still relatively available for people to use, according to an Internet monitoring company Renesys.
Less than an hour after the number of tweets from Tokyo topped 1,200 per minute. On March 11th, Facebook counted 4.5 million status updates from 3.8 million users across the world that mentioned the words “Japan”, “tsunami”, or “earthquake”. Numerous Facebook events have popped up inviting people to volunteer their time, donate money or simply support the cause. Families and friends are using Facebook Stories and tweeting to stay in touch.
Social media has a vital role in not only building relationships and marketing businesses, but also reconnecting people in times of tragedy. Now we need to thank God for the Internet, and social media.
How Facebook users reacted to the Japan earthquake & tsunami (Source: Mashable)
