#Haiti, By Way of Twitter
13 Jan 2010
Social media helps information spread like wildfire, and there is no better example than what is happening today with information, relief, and fundraising efforts regarding the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
Wyclef Jean, Yele, and the Red Cross
At about 3pm MST on January 12th, both Wyclef and the Red Cross had their first tweets about the earthquake. Within an hour, Wyclef had started tweeting about texting a code toYele to donate $5 for relief efforts. The initial was response was so overwhelming that the Yele servers went down.
Wyclef tweeted throughout the night with news updates, re-tweets of those who donated then tweeted, and his travel plans. A 3 hour gap in his tweets represented the time he was flying to the Dominican Republic; from just before takeoff to the moment he landed, he let the world know what he was doing, what others were doing, and how we could help.
The Red Cross has…
BrandonSings:
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runquatro:
ElyseHeslin:
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peterahall: