Social Media helping people that cannot fly
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Mon, Apr 19, 2010
With the recent volcano in Iceland people are finding the need to turn to social media for help. As most flights in and out of Europe are grounded due to the volcanic ash. Social Media has suddenly become the essential place to go to help passengers reach their destination. Last week under the sudden increase in traffic the traditional websites crashed this left stranded travellers with social media as the only choice. So it appears Social Media in the form of Twitter and Facebook are becoming the heroes for these stranded passengers.
There have been plenty of examples of Social Media coming to the rescue. Such as a Calais Rescues services which was organised on Twitter to bring people stranded in France home. The success of this has come from people searching on Twitter with hash tags. The most popular ones last week were #stranded, #getmehome or for those with no where to stay #putmeup. With the use of hash tags people were able to ask for help and reach people that were in a position to help by providing lifts or offering accommodation. Really does show the power of social media.
The real take away from this is that social media is quickly turning into the place to look regardless of what you are looking for. Within a few hours people were able to seek and receive help all over Europe. The traditional mediums such as print and information websites could not keep up or handle the pressure. So the question you have to ask yourself is you business taking full advantage of social media. I am sure that Ryanair is figuring out that same question right now.
A great place to start any social media is with blogging. So this week SiliconCloud are running a free webinar on blogging for business to help you understand how and why to blog for business. Register here: Blogging for Business