Second look at Social Networking

While visiting my family in Bangkok, I have a bit of spare time to ponder. That is the main reason why "Darryl's Ramblings" has a dramatic increase in posts, and therefore views.

Whether people read these or not, is mostly irrelevant to me. As a friend once told me, "I can use these as memory buffers, to peruse like old photos, when I am old and memory has departed for far away places."
Pretty deep stuff!

So, with that intro, I re-ponder and re-ramble about something I blogged some time ago. A fitting time, given the issues faced here. The subject? The impact of Social Media during a crisis. (You can read my previous post here.)

As Bangkok awaits the coming tides and battle through the destruction already felt in  the areas to the north, I once again, find I have turned to Twitter to keep abreast of the situation. As a "part time citizen" of Bangkok, I endeavor to keep current on the quickly changing status that a plight of this magnitude unfolds.

The mainstream media has numerous steps to take before it can present anything. This can be good or bad, depending on what they are reporting. They need to verify details and the validity of the news. But because of this, sometimes it takes too long to get that information "out there".

The bad side of this? When things change too quickly and the public are literally left standing up to their knees in it.

This is where social networking can, and I mean, CAN assist.

One must remember that just about everything tweeted is not verified in the same way and with the big news providers. Most serious twitters, try their best not to post misleading or error ridden information. And this is of great credit to them. These tireless people forage through the mayhem on the ground, and assist the locals in ways only you and I can think about. And all the while, doing this, they tweet various snippets of information and photos online for us to read.

I applaud their selfishness and dedication.

Some twitter links to follow....
RichardBarrow
Porpich
georgebkk
Kalyakornn
You can also search through #ThaiFloodEng