Twitter to the Rescue!
Well, maybe not rescue so much, but I can say that as much as I like Twitter currently, I really gained a new appreciation for it last night. Within about 10-15 minutes of returning home from Dayton/Cincinnati on Sunday, the remnants of Hurricane Ike, which seemed to have moved at quite a pace up from Texas, knocked the power out in our neighborhood. (We were 1 of about 2 million people without power in Ohio because of up to 75mph winds!)
Our power remained out all night, and into Monday morning. (Thankfully ours was back on by the time we got home from work on Monday. We are lucky, many are still without!) With no power, of course, our house digital phone line was out as well. My blackberry, however, was working quite well, and thanks to constant Twitter updates from local friends, and news media members, I was able to “check-in” with the outside world and keep track of what was going on without having to call individual folks to get the scoop. Twitter was where I found out how wide=spread the power outages were, where I learned about schools being closed, and where I learned about time frames being given for power to be restored. Twitter was where I kept on-line friends informed that we were home, and safe. Twitter was where I got updates from around town from various local tweeters. Twitter, was, for all intents and purposes, our lifeline to stay connected.
Not bad for a free Web 2.0 service.
