how twitter saves lives
Written by Anne Jackson on March 31, 2008 – 11:11 ammaybe i am exaggerating a bit, but given a little wider tornado, or a little faster wind, the tornado that hit edmond, oklahoma last night could have been much worse, and many more of my friends could have been in danger.
chris and i live in downtown. we went to bed around 12:30 after it appeared the tornado-producing storms were weakening. an hour later, the sirens went off downtown. i jumped out of bed and turned on the tele.
the only rotation was in edmond, which is where my office is and two of the lifechurch.tv oklahoma city campuses reside. as well as most of my okc friends. like terry. and sunny. and john. and john. and aaron.
i heard on the news that power just went out to the west side of edmond where the storm was. my friends began twittering about the power loss from their phones.
since we were totally in the clear, chris and i stayed up and kept our friends informed of the weather.
tornado on the ground.
crossing over penn.
over broadway.
even though they were hiding in closets and basements, they could know exactly where the tornado was because of twitter.
and they could know when the coast was clear.
i know twitter is all about friends and fun and updates and random 140 character bits of life, but in situations like this, i wonder how powerful it will be…
what if twitter was around during 9-11? during bigger storms? hurricanes? earthquakes? blackouts?
i think twitter can save lives - and i think it will. (remember, read the tweets from the bottom up in order for them to make sense!)
Posted in LifeChurch.tv, Oklahoma, Tech, Uncategorized |
By John Blanchard on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
You (and twitter) definitely helped me out last night!
By Natalie Witcher on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
My twitter would have had to been written by the hand of God himself…”Natalie - in bed, waking groggily to sirens dying down…missed the entire thing…tornado but a mile away…silly girl”
By Crystal Renaud on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
wow, a lot of excitement over night.
By Steven on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Awesome! Wow, You get some nasty weather there.
By John Ireland on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
agreed, anne!
thanks for being a caring soul with a heart for serving friends…:)
By Josh T. on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
You know what we need, Twitter Groups! That way we could opt-into a group and anyone who is in that group could do a direct message to the entire group. (Forgive me if this already exists.)
By Kim on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Welcome to Oklahoma! Glad you’re safe. Do you have a weather alert radio (with appropriate working batteries)? I do (and don’t).
Keeping you in our prayers. Today prayer is on my mind.
Kim
By john in colorado on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
that is really cool. any of their houses get hit? are they well?
By spence on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
oh thats incredible!!!!
By Anne Jackson on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
everyone is safe. the tornado landed on a house right across from the OKC campus. it has been all over the news. it was a small tornado but still did some damage in the residential areas. nobody was hurt or killed from what i understand.
behind terry’s house there was some damage of light posts and power cables and stuff.
By Cindy Beall on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Dear Lord in Heaven it was eerie. I knew the tornado was near us at Waterloo. The news crew was apparently less then two miles from my house! After my neighbor woke up to take shelter, we got the boys and went towards our neighbor’s shelter. Once it hooked north and we knew we were safe, we spent some time in the bathroom.
There were no sirens!!!! Where were the sirens???? We lost all power and had no idea what was happening. This twitter thing might be a blessing after all.
By Larry Boatright on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
when I used to live in OKC I sure could have used this! I lived in an apartment on the corner of Macarthur and 122nd..
We were watching the news and it had that “crossing such and such, etc”. It showed that it was going right where we were!
I put my wife and small son in the bathtub and drug the mattress in the tiny bathroom for some added protection- long story short, the tornado lifted and headed towards Edmond!!
You have moved to the tornado’s fav hangout Anne!
By Beth G. Sanders on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
I’ve had a stressful past couple of weeks, health-wise. Had my mammogram last week - which means I’m now a 10-year breast cancer survivor, but it’s always a stressful time.
This past weekend I ended up in the ER with extremely high blood pressure.
Both times I had people I know only from Twitter, from California to Canada to right here in Memphis praying for me, and later checking up to see how I’m doing. More importantly, I’ve had the opportunity to pray for needs I’d never have known.
What a gift.
By Christi D. on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
I’m having twitter envy….
By Jenny 867-5309 on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Yeah, those tornado’s are hitting us now! (Springfield, Missouri) So why am I still on the computer? Denial is a strong drug….
By Sunny on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Hey Anne…your twitter updates were a real blessing last night. Thanks again.
By John Otjen on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Great use for twitter! You where a huge help last night. Thanks!
By Jimmy Williams on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Great Job Anne! That is an awesome story, that twitter needs to tell!
By Connor Mccullough on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
thats such a great use of technology… good call
By tony on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
glad yall are safe - we had a couple today near cowtown
By Becca on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
I was going to ask how you guys were in Edmond.
I’m in Joplin, and around 8:30 this morning we were in the basement. No tornado here, though.
By Sarah Markley on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Sooo glad you are all safe.
I have to admit I’m glad I live here. I’ll take fires and quakes over tornadoes any day. =)
By lory on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
wow. i am amazed at how technology can be such a blessing in times like these…
of course, i read the blog to my class at seminary today and they all just laughed and thought you guys north of the red river are nuts….
glad you all are doing okay.
By Sean Pritzkau on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
i was so shocked!
read all those at like 6 this morning haha.
im so glad you okc folk are all right.
gotta love twitter!
By Rocks In My Dryer on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
I actually wondered today if I’d finally have a chance to fulfill my dream of live-blogging a tornado. No such luck. I mean, what a relief! ;)
I need to talk with you about Twitter. Perhaps it’s time for me to join the 21st century and get an account?
By Shanda on Mar 31, 2008 | Reply
Twitter is amazing on so many levels…thanks for pointing this out…now if only I could get some friends to realize that fact.
By Sunny on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
Looks like Twitter is already being used during emergencies…check this out…
http://scobleizer.com/2007/07/28/los-angeles-fire-department-twitters/
By Becca on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
(I love Anne Lamott)
By Melinda on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
As a hearing impaired person, I can not hear on a cell phone, so I do not own one. So many times I have wished for that access (like when the high school is under lock-down and I want to be in contact with my sons). From what I understand of it, Twitter is a cell phone option, correct? I have not had success in locating a provider that won’t charge me for air time (useless to me), even though I only want to enable texting and Twitter, if possible. I have alerted several others in the hearing impaired community about my query on your blog. Many of us will be watching to see if any of your readers can make a suggestion.
By Christina on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
@Melinda: Have you looked into T-Mobile or any other pay-as-you-go phones? You can top up your balance only as often as you need to (no bills) and then only spend it on texting and twittering. I’ve used T-Mobile for my cell phone (and texting) service for years and have had great service with them, but I don’t know what coverage is like in your area… Try looking here:
http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/
Good luck! ~Christina
By Ed Roberts on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
Glad all are safe. Things like Twitter (and frankly, cell phone service in general) has made a huge difference in emergencies like these. Of course, you are relying on both the stability and timeliness of Twitter AND your cell service at that time. If the tower near you lost power, you’d be in the dark. All the more reason to have that weather radio.
In any case, it goes to show you the power of having your social network easily accessible. You can not put a price on the connections you had last night. It also reminds me of how accessible I need to make myself on Twitter during weather events here in Kansas City (I’m a meteorologist).
Thanks Anne!
By Phil Daley on Apr 1, 2008 | Reply
Dave Lee
did a similar thing in February when there was a minor earthquake in the UK.
Funny how it’s one of the first things to come to mind
By cool dad on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
so there IS a good reason that i joined Twitter! tornadoes like Florida, too.
By mike foster on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
this is why i live in southern california. the only tornadoes we deal with are from our gardeners blowers and those big wind tunnels in our car washes.
By erin on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
that is pretty awesome, i am not a twitterer but when we had a tornado here a few weeks back i sure did call and text my friends, twitter would have been easier i could have hit them all at once :)
By Noodlehead on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
Great to see others are using twitter for updating in emergencies, I posted something very similar a week back on the blog when several of those tornadoes came through Georgia.
http://noodleheadstudios.com/index.php/New-Media-Marketing/How-can-you-update-your-family-in-an-emergency-Use-Twitter.html
By rushit shah on Apr 4, 2008 | Reply
hats off to twitter and you.
reg
rushitshah.com
http://www.rushitshah.com
By rjleaman on Apr 13, 2008 | Reply
It’s so encouraging to see technology being used for the “greater good” and this is a great example of that.
Remember the wildfires in the San Diego area? Twitter came into play there, with real-time updates about what areas were under evacuation orders, what streets were closed, where aid stations and other resources could be found… and that’s where Twitter Hashtags really first came into play, making it easy for interested people to follow a topic of strong interest.
I think we’ll be seeing more of this kind of usage - and you’re right, the real-time mass communication of Twitter does mean it can save lives in a crisis. How wonderful is that?!
By nate on Apr 19, 2008 | Reply
FWIW, Twitter has already saved lives. During the San Diego fires of October 2007 ( http://blog.perfectspace.com/2007/10/23/helping-people-everywhere-through-the-san-diego-fires/ ) there were hundreds of people who received assistance through tweets. There are quite a few mentions about how the San Diego fires were tweeted, which helped a ton of people.
Feel free to look at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Ablog.perfectspace.com+%22san+diego+fire%22+twitter&btnG=Search