Water and Social Media
The power of water has always fascinated and scared me.
I was always the kid playing with the water tub at the science museum and I’ve always loved seeing water wheels at factories. But at the same time, I almost always hate being IN water – or rather moving water.
I don’t like the beach (though that has more to do with a disgust of sand), and you’d be hard pressed to ever get me white water rafting, or in a river, or even near the filter in a pool where you can feel a slight sucking.
The ebb and flow is completely out of your control, just like the ebb and flow of conversation on social media.
Some days it seems like no one is talking, no matter how many questions you ask or @ replies you send, and some days the entire world is letting everyone know what’s on their mind every where you look.
Today is one of those days where everyone is talking – thanks in large part to social media.
I’m sure there’s a “flow” on social media every time a natural disaster of a large magnitude strikes, but today it’s affecting me first hand.
I highly doubt we’re ever going to see a tsunami from the Ohio River hit Cincinnati, but one of my best friend’s is from Hawaii and he’s explained numerous times how they didn’t have tornado drills at their school – they had tsunami drills. Sirens would sound and they would all go outside and head to higher ground.
I was glad I had heard his stories when I woke up this morning. The threat of tsunami waves caused by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that devastated Japan heading towards Hawaii was terrifying because he and his wife are visiting his home to lay his late grandfather to rest.
Thankfully, I was able to check in with them around 4 a.m. their time. They were high enough on the island to be out of the evacuation zone, but were still awake, presumably from the alerts.
I talked to them well before any of the waves would have hit the island they were on, but they’ve managed to check in a few times after the largest threat passed them.
With cell networks jammed in aftermath of the earthquake in Japan many people are finding people and news on social media. It’s a lifeline that is keeping people, including Jimmy Kimmel, connected and informed.
I’ve tried to go about my day, but normalcy has been punctuated with my boss’ son checking in from Japan –on Facebook – and talking about the aftershocks he’s been feeling, and Twitter has been alerting me that the tsunami waves have begun to hit the west coast.
I’ve been checking in with friends and former classmates on the west coast on Twitter, Facebook and gchat trying to make sure everyone is safe.
So far, everyone I know is safe, but now that I’ve heard from them, I’ll wait, watch and continue to discuss the events online. I don’t think we’re going to see the ebb from this happen anytime soon.
Liz Harter has a degree in English Writing with a minor in Spanish from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Ind. She is an award winning journalist on the collegiate level with a strong background in journalism. She currently works in PR and is a social media autodidact Google+
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