Saturday 12 December 2009

Facebook to the rescue!

Thursday I changed the colour of my hair again. Not all of it, just the front quarter (I'll maybe take a photo later once I look a bit more presentable!) Whilst waiting for the dye I was bored so updated my facebook status to:
Twisted Barbie is slowly going blue...One of my friends very sweetly posted to check that I was OK, thinking that I was maybe trapped outside in the cold or suffering asphyxiation or something. Whilst this made me laugh, its not a strange idea at all. Two girls were in the news lately after they became trapped in a storm drain in Adelaide and used their mobiles to update Facebook of their plight instead of calling the emergency services. Ok....so some people are actually dumb enough to do that.

Its not all bad though, in my internet wanderings I also came across these two stories...


Facebook, Twitter to the rescue in 'Ondoy' disaster-"During a nine-hour deluge that cut power lines and forced people on to their roofs, tech-savvy Filipinos made pleas for help and informed friends of their plight via mobile Internet links and text messaging. Meanwhile, Twitter and Facebook were a frenzy of activity as people posted notices about places people should avoid, with government critics saying later this online news was faster and more reliable than the official information. Local television network ABS-CBN used Google Earth maps on its website to mark the addresses of those needing rescue."

tCG-Facebook to the rescue - "A Coast Guard Sector Northern New England Search and Rescue Controller used Facebook to ultimately contact a missing boater. According to the Controller, “Sometimes we have to be very creative in our information gathering.” "

So sometimes it seems using Facebook for rescue might be a good idea..but maybe not instead of calling 999.

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