Arising from smoke, ash, and fire, Daniel Tumiwa had to tell someone about what had just happened to him, terrified and confused, he did the first thing that came to his mind after witnessing several bombs go off in Indonesia yesterday.. he tweeted.

According to ABC News (Australia) TwitterTwitter was the first to report news of the deadly Jakarta bombings yesterday and altogether it doesn’t come as a surprise to many of that us that have seen current events issues published throughout the entire known web space, with Twitter being the culprit behind the viral spread. The Hudson River plane crash, the controversy behind the Iranian elections, and Michael Jackson’s death where some of the few outstanding occurrences Twitter has documented before anyone else. And this tragic event further reiterates the possibilities of the viral effect the Internet undoubtedly has..

According to ABC News the events occured as follows:

“He quickly followed up with more details.

“2 boms go off at marriot hotel ad ritz carlton jakarta.”

“2 boms go off inside Ritz Carlton and Marriott coffee shops! Not kidding. Am here.”

“Left location. Shocked. Lots of blood. Breakfast meetings at coffee shops while bombs went off.”

“Thanks for all the concern. Back home. Safe. Shocked. Blood…smoke…glass…everywhere…prayers to the victims….” ”

As tends to happen the news hopped around from Twitterer to Twitterer, every social network picked up on the news, until eventually it reached the actual press and the major publications began the in depth reports.

In another part of the story The Marriott Hotels Group is spreading their message of condolences and empathy for the victims and the loved ones of their victims through Twitter, and their blog.

Their use of online PR is notably one the best examples of corporate social media usage seen to date, their message is humane, and they’ve made it a priority to inform travelers of their efforts to enforce security. They covered their bases and have tried their best to come out of this event strong. I especially think that the kindness expressed through social media can be transcendent and particularly necessary and positive at this time. Even Bill marriot blogged about the event, and honestly to see a CEO write a public blog post about his feelings and concerns about any event, was pretty much unheard of in the PR world, until today, today now, today social media existed.

Our deepest condolences to those who suffered in any way, shape, or form in this event. May you somehow find peace at this time.

Sheila

Social Media Specialist @ The Re Agency

One of the biggest concerns of many PR reps and Marketers when making the addition or transition from traditional media to new media is lack of message and feedback control.

This is a natural fear in a business where control is thought to be the success of media strategies.

However Social Media being the rebel that he is, is proving all of us wrong.

Again.

In the beginning TwitterTwitter was viewed as a rather useless ego stroking mechanisim for those average and not so average joes to transmit brief messages about everything they did, literally every second of the day i.e.

@exampleoftwitter Good morning evry1, breakfast, brush teeth, then work -sigh-

140 characters of … nothing.

However this once seemingly useless microblogging site has become the biggest arena for consumer complaints, reassurances, suggestions, and bottled up consumer anger ever witnessed.

As an example I’ve been seeing a growing trend in companies such as JetBlue Airways transform negativity in customer feedback to productivity, by listening carefully and participating in the online conversation going on in Twitter.

Through the use of their twitter account @JetBlue has managed to create an unprecedented relationship with their consumers. They’ve created a system where they encourage JetBlue customers to participate in queries, suggestions and even give complaints.

The result is a genuine conversation between company and customer.

Lets use the example of Tony Wagner. Who found out he wasn’t seated next to his wife and daughter of Two years on their Memorial Day weekend flight, obviously upset by the seating arrangements he immediately contacted customer service who redirected him to take his concern to the gate. Mr. Wagner decided to tweet about his issue not really expecting any resolution

“@jetblue Advice to get both parents and 2 yr old seated next to each other on flight later today? Right now only one parent. Full flight.”

19 minutes later JetBlue responded, offering to help through the direct message feature allowing them to correspond privately:

“@tonywagner Please follow us so we may DM!”

After their short exchange, JetBlue flagged his tickets as a priority concern.

The company jumped at the chance to redeem the customer and move the conversation to a personal preface where the brand would not be damaged but rather enhanced for their quickly responsive customer service.  By veering this possible complaint to a productive resolution they have earned a story in the New York Times about their excellent service and are now regarded as innovators in the Social Network forefront.

This case exemplifies that perhaps control is simply out of reach now, and as professionals we have to accept,  embrace, and simply go with it.

So, for once.. lose control and just listen.

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @ The RE Agency

For the past few days the only thing anyone seems to talk about is the passing of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, seemingly the most important topic of discussion on TwitterTwitter, FacebookFacebook, and CNN. But how did the news of his death spread? How did speculation become fact over the course of a few minutes throughout the social networks?

Who reported first?

To begin with, i think its particularly interesting to note that his death ratified the fact that social media is quickly building itself up as a news source. Remembering of course the US Airways plane that was forced to land in the Hudson River some months ago and more recently the out pour of multimedia sent through Twitter, YoutubeYouTube and other social networking sites during the massive blockade of journalisim and communications after the Iranian election.

However Michael Jacksonmichael jackson reviews out shined them all, logistically speaking.

Below I’ve included the way speculation of his death spread through a series of linked social networks traveling throughout the internet from network to network until eventually reaching your ears and the mainstream news stations as well.

1. The Celebrity Gossip site TMZ publishes a blog post at 4:30 PM EST stating that Michael Jackson had been transported to the hospital via ambulance due to a cardiac complication.
2. Twitter users who read TMZ start circulating the story, from there it spreads to Facebook and several other blogs.  Speculation and mass circulation begins.
3. At exactly 5:02 PM EST TMZ updates that Michael Jackson had passed away.
4. The story becomes the focus of every social networking site, and blog in the world. Servers from Twitter, Facebook, and Google nearly crash from the overload.

Curiously enough none of the major news channels like BBC and CNN informed the public of his death until well after 7 PM. They had however given vague details about the possibility of Mr. Jackson being comatose, which wasn’t received until after 5:30, which had you noticed TMZ had already confirmed his death 28 minutes before. Once again we see citizens’ journalism beat out the major broadcasting networks with a simple tweet.

However, this type of journalism has yet to evolve and strengthen to become more reliable. While on Twitter the news story of the moment was the passing of Michael Jackson, there were also rumors about the supposed death of actors Jeff Goldblum and Harrison Ford, which goes without saying are not true.

The analytic data impact that the Michael Jackson news story generated throughout internet media: According to the company of logistic and analytical inter studies Compete, on the day of his death the words Michael and Jackson where searched more than 9,981,000 times.

And even more shocking was the user participation on the official Michael Jackson site displaying more than 423,000 messages from fans all around the world from the time of his death to the moment this post was being posted.  Indicating about 10 posts per minute, some with a few brief words and others extended to lengthy paragraphs.

More importantly than deep analytical research in this particular case it’s important to mention the participation of the users who left commentary on the digital wall for the late musician and entertainer,  messages whose number relied on nothing more than the need of fans to express themselves.

Proving once again the vanguard nature of Social media and its shocking possibilities to communicate globally to and from the masses.

Sheila

Social Media Communications Specialist @The RE Agency