New York, October 30, 2012. Hurricane Sandy smashes through the city, its power destroying anything in its path. What it could not destroy was the power of Social Media.
Written by Kaye Neylon
The devastation that has struck the most famous city in the world is clearly evident as homes are left ravaged and without power and at its most extreme some left homeless.
Hurricane Sandy engorged this once energetic and bustling corner of the world and left it a shadow of its former self. The clear up is slowly beginning and those most affected by its deadly vice grip are left to pick up the pieces.
When hurricane Sandy struck New York yesterday, no one could have predicted its force, but what is most surprising is the force felt using social media.
Many of the major news reports from around the world covering the hurricane came from Twitter and Facebook.
On Twitter, #Sandy is the most trending topic closely followed by #newjersey where the storm struck first. Some reports have estimated that Hurricane Sandy accounts for one in ten Tweets.
According to Facebook’s Talk Meter, a tool used by Facebook to measure trending topics and terms used, “Hurricane Sandy” and “Sandy” were the most-used terms in America on Monday.
Instagram saw a huge wave of images capturing residents in New York and New Jersey preparing for the storm and lighting candles in preparation for the inevitable power shortages that eventually brought the city to a dark and eerie stand-still.
The volume of Hurricane Sandy images uploaded onto Instagram caused their CEO, Kevin Systrom, to comment.
“Every second there are ten pictures of the storm uploaded to Instagram with the hashtag Sandy.”
Many of those stranded in the storm’s path had no alternative but to use Twitter and Facebook as a means to inform family members of their situation and ease the distress.
