Social media offer comfort, confusion in quake aftermath

Despite the ridiculous fools that are tweeting things like Koreans poisoning water supplies -- and I hope those accounts are deleted as quickly as the person who said a lion escaped! -- I think the good here FAR outweighs the bad in terms of how social media is and/or could help. As with supply kits and the like, though -- you need to be lucky enough to have access to it when the quake hits.

Hope some of the missing, if not all, can get messages out.

At times like this people turn to social media they hate

lostrune2: "At times like this people turn to social media they hate"

Which is part of the point of the article -- that it can be a useful tool -- and hopefully the people you mentioned can learn that, same as those that constantly scorn the use of cell phones and how people refuse to be separated from them or what have you. In any case, even if I loathed something like this I wouldn't hesitate to use it if it would help as doing so is harmless, same as a number of other things, so not sure there's any need for vehemence.

I do not have a cell phone, but I can yell really loud.

You'd tire easily, have a large whistle in your emergency bag.

World and the United Nation must come forward and provide liberal assistance to earthquake victims and for construction of earthquake proof demolished houses in JAPAN on urgent basis.

I hope they will get that annoying 3GB limit in 3days.....

ShinCebu: More worrisome than any data limit is the fact that anyone trapped would not have any access to a power source and the devices would run out of power. Hell, even those not trapped but experiencing blackouts will have the same problem.

Yes, the Internet is great! But I know it can help you or hurt you. Let's make better use of it!

I am sure that most and predominant posts on SNS are positive, uplifting as well as highly practical for those in affected areas. On the other hand, there are still someone trying to troll public sentiments. Anyone can be victims or aggressors, sometimes framed by a third party.

Please don't sweat, overreact, or get misled with confusing and malicious ones.

@smithinjapan Are the netouyo at it again? They just don't catch a break do they?

Facebook does have a useful tool for disasters. All of my friends living in that area did mark themselves as safe from the quake except for last friend who lives very near the epicenter. I waited all night until she finally contacted me. Her phone went dead, and I was so relieved to hear from her.