Mayor Uses Twitter to Help People Stranded in Snow
By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2011-01-06 02:09:17 | Word Count: 664
The mayor of Newark, Cory Booker, was able to use Twitter to rescue individuals trapped in the snow storm that dumped 20 inches on the Northeast.
The devastating storm caused hundreds of flights to be cancelled, and has been estimated to cost the retail industry 1 billion dollars in lost revenue.
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However the real cost was the human toll it took on residents of the Northeast, which is what led Mayor Booker to turn to Twitter to find people who needed help. He has over 1 million people following him on the micro-blogging platform. He was able to tweet requests and queries to stranded individuals.
People sent their cries for assistance through Twitter back to him, and officials as well as concerned citizens were able to find those in need. A bunch of citizens even convened on a scene where an ambulance with a critical dialysis patient inside was stuck in the snow. They were able to get the truck out in time for its occupant to get the required medical attention.
Mayor Booker’s hands – on approach is being widely praised by citizens and officials alike. At one point he even infused a sense of humor in his tweets, claiming that though he was able to help dig a person’s car out, he forgot to “lift with his knees.” Along with helping to dig multiple people out, the mayor was even able to deliver diapers to a mother trapped indoors by waist high embankments of snow.
Despite the fact that Mayor Booker no doubt personally helped so many people out of a good – hearted sense of responsibility, he is certainly reaping the positive press today from such a public format as Twitter. He responded to and kept Newark residents informed every step of the way, and word of his efforts spread like wildfire across the city. Those unconvinced of the importance of social media, not just its function as a marketing tool, but in its base function of connecting people, individual to individual, are holding on to a limited idea of how the world is changing.
Twitter isn’t just for Sarah Palin (or for the journalists who for good or ill can’t wait to hear what she tweets next). It isn’t just for CEOs or even for Mayors. In case you were still on the fence about why you should have a Twitter or Facebook account or a mobile device to connect to it, just be aware that it might be your lifeline to authorities the next time you need help.
As we see trends in the marketplace affect the culture and vice versa, this instance of a social media outlet being used as a tool to find and help average citizens is merely another chapter in the story of us coming to terms with our own creation.
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again that our use of the internet and all it brings, inspires, helps to develop, etc, is coming of age. We are no longer letting the technology overwhelm and dictate to us. We are reconfiguring it around how we live—how human beings have always lived.
Examples: initially having 400 Facebook “friends” leads to National Unfriend Day, and the Kindle becomes best selling item of ALL TIME on Amazon despite the widely predicted death of reading in our society.
In other words, Luddites who see a loss of our humanity with every new technological development are often being short-sighted.
Newark residents sent Mayor Booker all their concerns non-stop, complaining about streets still not plowed or rude government workers and the like, with Booker being able to respond in real time that he would address each issue. One man even went as far as to tweet that the Mayor’s fast, efficient handling of the situation was robbing him of a weather-related day off from work, to which the Mayor tweeted, “Lol, That’s my goal!”
Hooray for Mayor Booker, Twitter and Social Media.
