Twitter Helps in Haiti Quake Coverage
In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, social media site Twitter has proven to be an important tool.
Twitter has proved to be critical for fundraising and relief efforts to help the disaster’s victims.
According to Twitter.com, five of the most popular topics posted on Thursday on the mini-blogging site were related to Haiti. Recent reports have said that the death toll from the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck on Tuesday might have surpassed 100,000.
Funds set up via Twitter.com cropped up rapidly, and aid to Haitians has been one of the most popular topics on the site. People also posted photos of the quake and added links to sites where you can donate to help the victims.
Organisers of mobile donations set up by a company called mGive said on Twitter that they have raised over $2 million dollars. A message on Twitter confirmed that people donated $5 million dollars to the Red Cross.
As major events around the globe erupt, Twitter keeps growing in popularity.
Mark Evans of social media monitoring and analytics Sysomos Inc. "Following the earthquake in Haiti, Twitter has once again become a platform to disseminate the news and, more important, a way to quickly raise money to support relief efforts"
As of last month, Twitter had over 60 million users worldwide and about 20 million in the U.S., according to data obtained from comScore.com.
Source: Nomensa