The
world was rocked by the events that took place last week. The downing of the
flight from Sharm El Sheikh to Russia and the Paris attacks were shocking
enough.
When four people died in five uncontrolled bush fires around an Australian
town I used to live in, and friends of mine were fighting those fires, I felt uselessly far away.
Sharing information
As a
longtime Francophile I can honestly say my first response to the Paris attacks was
to worry about friends, absorb information from Twitter and the news
for several hours, and despair for one of my
favourite cities.
But
it wasn’t long before my despair at what a few humans could do to so many, turned
to hope as I saw the response. As information was released social media was
visibly being put to good use, not only to share current information, but also
to provide help to those in immediate danger.
Providing emergency assistance
Facebook
launched their Safety Check feature for an emergency other than a natural
disaster, for the first time on November 13, 2015. Facebook responded to
initial criticisms about not having used it when situations occurred in other
countries, as simply chance that it launched at that time.
The
political bickering didn’t interest me; I found comfort in seeing my friends
register themselves as ‘safe’. It is a good tool, and I am glad it has been developed. With so many people using Facebook these days,
the value of enabling those who are not immediately involved to understand their loved ones
are alright, free up communication networks, and minimise unnecessary stress is undeniable.
Twitter,
due to the forced necessity of being succinct, has long been the immediate news
source of choice. Parisians turned to Twitter to help strangers get out of
harms way. Hashtag #porteouverte (meaning 'open door') enabled Parisians
to open up their homes and share safe escapes with those stranded on the street.
In the hours that followed hashtag #dondusang also emerged,
encouraging Parisians to donate much-needed blood.
Only
two days later the Esperance bushfires started and I was quickly following
emergency warnings and updates about the situation, provided by people that I
knew, to the community I once lived in.
Helping people support each other
When the worst of the danger had passed
social media quickly became busy with attempts to support those affected. My
Facebook feed became filled with offers of spare rooms for those that had been
evacuated from their homes, offers to keep displaced livestock safe in spare
paddocks, pictures of home-cooked meals made for volunteer firefighters, and
more.
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| Esperance bush fires, November 2015, WA, Australia. Photo: Andrew Johnstone |
As
the saying goes, it’s not what you’ve got; it’s how you use it.
While people
often complain about social media being a distraction or a waste of time, I
prefer to focus on the ways it can be used for good.
Given
all that has happened in recent weeks, I am really grateful for social media
and, perhaps more importantly, for the folks that use it for good.
