The past 48 hours here in Australia has caused me to rethink some of my doubts about Twitter whilst also reaffirming my belief as to the importance of social media for our future.
The Australian state of Victoria has, over the past 48 hours suffered incredible loss as devastating bushfires (wildfires) have swept across the region. 24 hours ago, many of us hoped it wouldn’t be as bad as the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983. What we know now is that the emergency is far worse and can only get worse before we see any respite. With many towns wiped out and emergency services yet to get back in, the current toll (as at 2350 AEDT) is likely to move well north of the current 84 souls.
The reason I write this post is not for sensationalism, but because today I’ve seen firsthand what the future holds for news and information distribution. This afternoon in Brisbane, whilst our major media networks ran standard programming, I followed the flow of news of the devastation primarily via Twitter (thanks to @cfa_updates and @774melbourne). Sadly, as the death toll escalated beyond my comprehension the gap between what was possible (i.e. Twitter) and what we’d come to expect (i.e. TV news networks) was insurmountable. It struck me as odd that as I updated my wife she couldn’t believe what I was saying as the TV either wasn’t up to date or the networks felt it wasn’t important enough to run anything more than hourly updates – it’s not like they don’t know how to use ticker updates.
It angers me that as I was getting official reports from credible/reliable sources this same information was taking hours to get distributed into the mainstream community. It wasn’t until close to 8pm AEDT that the Australian mainstream press finally started providing timely updates – nice work team.
What did I learn from this?
Well, social media and tools like Twitter are at work down under despite my earlier post that Australian companies are missing the boat.
But we’ve got some major work to do. We’re just so not connected.
What stood out for me?
- @cfa_updates – an unofficial source of Country Fire Authority data. Whoever @cfa_updates is, it kept me glued to my computer all afternoon. Great work whoever you are. I hope the CFA ultimately recognise your work as you allowed them to focus on the important stuff whilst disseminating info out to the community.
- @774melbourne has kept us all up to date. But has @774melbourne highlighted a weakness in Twitter? @774melbourne is the Melbourne radio station for our Government owned broadcaster ABC. ABC has a Twitter presence – @abcnews. So whilst @774melbourne was tweeting every few minutes, @abcnews was making (barely) an hourly update that in some cases wasn’t even devoted to the emergency. This begs the question. We turn to the ABC for news, yet off @abcnews we’d be hard pressed to understand the gravity of the disaster. You’d need to go look for @774melbourne to really get your finger on the pulse – this is not ideal.
- A number of local Google engineers created a very useful map of what was going down. Great work Google team considering it was a weekend. And nice commentary asking people to stay away from core emergency service numbers. It’s worth noting that Google simply took CFA feeds and turned this data into a useful service (as did @cfa_updates).
In 6 minutes, Sunday 8 February 2009 will be finished. Yet I’m still getting updates from @774 and @cfa_updates – still. Go to bed guys, we’re going to need you over the next few days. God help those relying on the mainstream press…
And finally, wherever you are, think of the volunteer fire fighters, emergency services, the police, the red cross, the teams flying the helicopters, the medical teams dealing with the injured, the vets dealing with wounded animals, the poor sap reporter on the ground knowing his update is next to meaningless, those who are left to rebuild shattered lives, and those who are no longer with us.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.
Di Hobday
February 9, 2009
I was going to describe my experience of twitter – and those two feeds specifically (@774melbourne and @cfa-updates), but it got too long (now on my blog http://triscele-stillevolving.blogspot.com/ if you’re interested). Suffice it to say that the information through twitter on those feeds was timely, credible, and the only ‘real-time’ information that I could find. I’m now a twitter fan.
Di Hobday
February 10, 2009
@774Melbourne and @cfa_updates have been the credible face of information on the bushfires for me since Saturday. I only joined twitter on Friday… Thank God I didn’t have to rely on commercial/national news sources. Longer discussion of how twitter shaped my understanding of the fires on my blog at http://tinyurl.com/bzjzzw.
France Blake
February 13, 2009
Wow that is an amazing insight into the potential of social media platforms and their ability to educate and inform an audience that may not, in a disaster have the ability to check radios and TV’s. The rise of the handheld computer (IPhones) has massive implications in an uncertain future.
I am also thankful to every one who pooled together in a time of crisis and delivered what they could.
And another thankyou to Mark and the Google Team for the links esp. the one to the maps of the affected areas.
My thoughts, prayers and thanks go out to all affected by this devastating crisis