Sunday, March 4, 2012

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120303/NEWS01/303030069/Social-Media-Videos-tweets-spread-word-about-tornado-destruction?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CLocal%20News


Hello my Friends!

Today my post is about how social media has affected the tornado damage in the Midwest. The article had a focus on how there has been an impact from social media and videos on the Internet spreading the news about what has happened in the Midwest in the past few weeks. In general, social media and newer technology in general has really improved the ability to get updates and up close views of these storms. As we have seen from this most recent storm system, there was a man who got the funnel on camera. This person took the video, and put it on YouTube at 3:15, and a little while later, 15 minutes later to be exact, he was fielding questions and taking calls from international reporters. The article also talks about social media in a positive way for helping. The National Weather Service (NWS) actually gathered weather information from people who were on the ground at the time and posted about the storm cell using social media. The social media sources also led to gathering of more reliable pictures of the events as well. The media looked through the various social media sites for different experiences from people on the ground and used their pictures and sights for their own media coverage. Overall, this is actually pretty good for the media in general. The media gets what they want; more reliable information that the people want. And the people also win because they get information from the news that actually is what happened.
Have a good week my friends!!

5 comments:

  1. I feel like this story connects very well with the revolution in Egypt when communications had to be made the protesters used social media to organize their movement. Then when news Stations were reporting on it they were pulling up tweets that were being made from the crowd of rioters. This helped the news network be able to report on the demands of people and actions the were doing. It made their broadcast that much more effective because their claims were being made off off first hand accounts. I feel that news networks should use social media to get eye witness accounts more often.

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  2. I agree and think that social media is a very good way for us all to stay up do date about current news, even if it is halfway across the country. Without social media, we all might not know about current happenings for days.

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  3. Social media kept users updated in this situation and my also saved lives for others. I'm sure people in a specific area may have posted information on social media which could have alerted others near by.

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  4. I know that when the tornadow hit western mass, people found out alot of information off of pictures from Facebook and statuses. This is one area where social media is a definite plus.

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  5. When natural disasters occur social media can save lives. Social media in these cases can be the difference between a person seeing the light of day the next morning or the inside of a coffin.

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