Feeling Like a Complete Twit

“Suck on that faggots!” tweeted swimmer Stephanie Rice in September 2010 after the Wallabies defeated South Africa (Hooton, 2011). Former columnist for Melbourne’s The Age, Catherine Deveney, commented from the Logies awards ceremony that same year, “I do so hope Bindi Irwin gets laid” (Hooton, 2011). I say “former” because Deveney was famously axed from the newspaper after her impressive tweeting frenzy that evening. Rice, meanwhile, lost a valuable sponsorship contract for her lapse in judgment.

With 160 million Twitter members worldwide, sending an estimated 50 million tweets per day, most tweets were found in a recent U.S. study not to be nearly as offensive or noteworthy as the examples above (Hooton, 2011). However, these tweets, and others of a similar insulting or amusing nature, were my only exposure to this social networking phenomenon until I signed up for an account in November 2010 as required by INF506, my social networking subject at Charles Sturt University. Do I really care what Ashton Kutcher ate for dinner? How could Twitter possibly be useful to libraries, this budding librarian and society?

And then came the floods. When Queensland was inundated in early January 2011, Twitter rose to the occasion and proved its value as a social networking tool to this former sceptic:

On Wednesday 12 January, Optus tweeted this helpful information at a time when connectedness could mean the difference between life or death: “#QLDFloods Update: If you are in an affected area & have a 3G handset, switching to 2G can help conserve the battery life on your handset.”

The Queensland Police Service turned to Twitter to spread information and correct misinformation about rising flood waters and public transport closures and to alert residents of impending danger (Dick, 2011). Its use of Twitter in a time of crisis and natural disaster undoubtedly become a case study for years to come on the benefits of social networking sites such as Twitter.

ABC News, my preferred news source, tweeted breaking news and streamed live broadcasts of Queensland Police media conferences.

Ordinary citizens even took to Twitter and Facebook to search for missing friends and family (Hearn, 2011).

Meanwhile in the country I called home for the first 20 years of my life, my American family and friends were snowed under in the first of a few blizzards during the Northern Hemisphere winter. Although the crisis was less severe and lives were not immediately at risk, Twitter was also used in a meaningful way to connect people with information and with each other. Major Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey has been praised for responding to tweets by his constituents by sending snow plows to clear particular streets and, in one case, personally delivering much-needed nappies to one snowed-in home. Mayor Booker states, "I hope more elected officials discover the power of Twitter. It truly is an effective way to connect with the body politic” (Yuboco, 2010).

It seems that each week brings another example of the power of Twitter. As I am busily finishing up this subject and editing my blog, political chaos reigns in Egypt, and Cyclone Yasi is approaching Townsville, Cairns and Innisfail, as Twitter continues to inform, enlighten, infuriate and amuse the masses.

References
Dick, T. (2011, January 12). Police tweet themselves into city’s good books. The Age.
Retrieved from http://www.theage.com.au/environment/police-tweet-themselves-into-citys-good-books-20110111-19mp1.html

Hearn, L. (2011, January 13). Hunt for missing flood victims goes online. The Sydney
Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/hunt-for-missing-flood-victims-goes-online-20110113-19par.html

Hooton, A. (2011, January 22). “A little birdie told me ...” The Sydney Morning Herald.
Good Weekend, p. 11-15.

Queensland Police media conference. Viewed at http://bit.ly/abcnews24

Sky News. John Kerrison talks with SR7's Thomas Tudehope about the role social media has played in handling the Queensland floods. Viewed at http://www.skynews.com.au/video/?vId=2095006&cId=Programs&play=true

Yuboco, A. (2010, December 30). Mayors praised for communicating via Twitter during
blizzard. Retrieved from http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/301912