Tweet and Cover

I take it all back. Everything I said about Twitter, “tweets” or “tweeting” and the “tweeps” that supply said tweets in the “twitterverse.”

Today, I have been infused with some serious Twitter enthusiasm as I watched it work its magic right before my eyes. Single-handedly, Twitter supplied all of Toronto and beyond with USEFUL information in real-time. Yes, I am talking about (as everyone else is today) the earthquake that hit Ontario.

As I sat in the back of my Online Public Relations class -half listening, half watching the clock – we began a mild sway simultaneous with the building. In hindsight, the fact I wasn’t fazed by this unusual motion deters faith from my survival instincts, but that is for me to muse about on my own. Regardless, it wasn’t until a distraught student anxiously asked “are we having an earthquake?” Initially laughing, seconds later I actually started believing it as the movement disappeared. Slowly, I saw my course director coming to similar conclusions that I was. Then collectively, like the bunch of information-hungry, social media gurus that many of us are, we all fled to Twitter. In all fairness to our focus, it’s a freakin’ Online PR class and Barry Waite, the course director, beat me to tweeting while he was running a class, so cut us some slack.

Within literally seconds after the earthquake people were tweeting. Not just the general public but businesses. BlogTO and NOW Toronto were among the first that I saw spreading the word. Minutes after, Keith Buckley (singer from Every Time I Die) tweets about surviving an earthquake in Buffalo, New York at the same time as someone in class tells me their friend from Ottawa tweeted and just felt the quake themselves. As more people tweeted I discovered that the epicenter of the earthquake was just north of Ottawa, it registered at 5.5 and it was felt across southern Ontario and parts of the U.S. I got all of this information and I didn’t even type a word into my computer; holy shit.

As I returned home from my school day I turned on CP24 to see what their coverage has been like and, justifiably so, they were talking about the power of Twitter and how it was key in notifying everyone that what just happened WAS in fact an earthquake and not some G20 scare – or as a friend from Twitter suggested, Rita McNeil on a trampoline. Not only did Twitter supply everyone with the fastest source of information about the quake, but the commentary accompanying it was hilarious. Less than an hour later, someone had already compiled a list of the “7 Funniest #TorontoEarthquake Tweets.” It was clear to see that Twitter was being used as a public service, a social commentary and an online stage for comedic prose. All just seconds after something happened; incredible.

When 9/11 occurred, I was in my first week of high school. The attack happened around nine in the morning and it wasn’t until I got home from school - around 3:30 - that I knew anything even went down, no pun intended. Nowadays, if Justin Beiber tweets about having a granola bar for brunch, his adolescent fan base knows about it before the recess bell. Social media has proven itself to me before, but Twitter scores huge points today.

I hope stories like this allow people outside of the communications world to truly appreciate the power that social media possesses. To get a further look into the ubiquity of social media, here’s an insightful video with some pretty shocking statistics. Enjoy!