Social Media and Disaster Response

New technologies and social media are providing for more rapid and unfiltered communications from the earthquake ravished Haiti.

USA Today has published an article that examines one way in which Twitter and other social medias have changed the way disasters are responded to.



"WASHINGTON — The Homeland Security Department has joined the social-media movement and for the first time is reading Twitter posts, blogs and Internet forums to learn instantly about conditions in Haiti and send alerts to government agencies in the country.

The department's Haiti Social Media Disaster Monitoring Initiative is designed to get information more quickly to people involved in recovery efforts by tracking up to 60 Internet sites including Google Blog Search, The Huffington Post and Twitter, according to a department report."

Read the full story at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-02-01-haiti-monitor-social-media_N.htm