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Twitter—and Social Media—Saves Lives
Filed under Social MediaMay 22Ok, there still must be people who can’t figure out what all the Social Media fuss is all about.
On the morning of Wednesday, May 19th, David Akin, a journalist I follow on Twitter who covers the Ottawa beat, specifically the PMO, retweeted (RTed, for those who need a glossary) some messages (tweets, ibid) from Mark Mackinnon, a a fellow journalist working for the Globe & Mail as a correspondent in SE Asia. Mark is in Thailand right now. Right where the bullets have been flying, literally. I didn’t follow Mark, but I do now.
Here’s the thread I saw that morning:
davidakin 7:34am, May 19 from TweetDeck
RT @markmackinnon: At least 5 wounded around me in park behind Wat Patum temple, one a friend and colleague.. gunfire continues
davidakin 7:35am, May 19 from TweetDeck
RT @markmackinnon: we’re the only corros left in temple. People around us terified. Red Cross can’t get ambulance to injured cuz of gunfire.
davidakin 7:35am, May 19 from TweetDeck
RT @markmackinnon: 7 dead 10 injured inside Wat Patum temple, which was supposed to be sanctuary. I’d guess 1500 to 2000 terrified ppl
davidakin 7:36am, May 19 from TweetDeck
RT @markmackinnon: Please RT. People around me are dying because they can’t get to hospital across the road because of fighting
davidakin 7:36am, May 19 from TweetDeck
RT @markmackinnon: More people will die inside Wat Patum unless we get ceasefire to get to hospital across the road.
I started following Mark after that. Here’s the result.
markmackinnon 8:08am, May 19 from mobile web
Thanks to all who Rt. we got all injured out in ambulances. Twitter may just have done this.
markmackinnon 8:15am, May 19 from Twitpic
Wounded man in ambulance leaving Wat Patum. Ceasefire negotiated to let wounded leave. http://twitpic.com/1p5j5l
When I mention stuff like this to people, especially in older forums like mail lists, I seem to always get questions about why it’s relevant to them, the group(s) being “interrupted” or to justify the off-topicness of my interest.
OK, there may be a challenge in linking what I posted to the mandate of communications design (which was the forum I initially posted to).
I’ll take a stab at it though.
Communication channels in our world are changing, in many ways, and very, very rapidly. Speed of communications, delivery mechanisms, production methods, and probably far more relevant to both culture and economy, in ownership.
There is a lot of push-back in the world (and, dare I suggest it, on this list) towards these new kinds of comms channel. We all know (and quite a few conveniently forget) the typical comments about the “silliness”, “pointlessness” ADHD-culture that, if Twitter isn’t an exacerbation of, it’s certainly a presenting symptom. Unfortunately for people who are still thinking this, the numbers suggest those opinions aren’t valid.
If professional visual communications design is to stay relevant, doesn’t it behoove the practitioners to ensure they fully understand the attributes & applications of any ascending communications channel? YouTube with 2BB items, FB with 400MM users, LinkedIn with 100MM+ users, Twitter with approximately the same. These are tomorrow’s mass media outlets. They’re just not controlled by the 20th Century Status Quo media corporations (at least, not yet).
How is posting an example of great, effective, IMPORTANT communications, using a channel that only allows 140 characters at a time, but reaches a significant percentage of the connected population of this planet in near real-time, any different from posting a link to the latest Swiss poster or retro book cover design exhibition? Each has constraints about the media and approaches to execution. Each channel can be made to sing in the hands of someone who truly understands the constraints imposed by the choice of outlet, and knows how to push the envelope on the media to hand. Oh, and the visual part? How about celebrating that due to the efforts of countless interactive designers, the content of these communications channels can be viewed via dozens if not hundreds of different presentations, through the work of various developers and standards users & promoters.
Subject matter aside, it’s the meta-lessons to be learned about execution within this channel that I found important.
Which is why I posted it.