Twitter live Boston Marathon

One again, the first announcement of a crisis, the twin blast in Boston Marathon, which left 3 dead people, including an 8 year old child, and more than a 140 injured, was acknowledged via Twitter. Social Media were quick and efficient to let us know in due time what was going on and what the authorities, first responders and the Government (including President Obama) were doing to cope with the situation.

The explosions occurred at 18.50 GMT near the finish line of Boston Marathon, the most important competition of this sort. Videos  and pictures followed them live in Twitter and Facebook  , as well as summaries using different tools like storify and YouTube channels, also quite helpful to draw a picture of the situation, including President Obama's speech.

Obama explained that he didn’t know who committed the attack or why, but assured the nation that they would find them. 

Regarding the authorities, Boston used used their Twitter account, @Boston_Police, to provide, for instance, a phone number for those eager to share information about the attack

The Boston Police also used its account to explain that all the agents had gone back to job, an important issue in any crisis, moreover if we remember that yesterday it was a holiday in Boston.

Clearly, if before social media appeared crises, disasters and even wars, were broadcast in television, today they go live on Twitter.

Social media are self-correcting

It is also true that Twitter spread rumors, as usually happens when a crisis occurs, but the network was also capable of countering criticism, so, once more, it’s been proven that social media do not need to be corrected form the outside, they are selfcorrecting. 

As an example we have this information uploaded to Twitter by The New York Post (@nypost) which affirms that 12 people were killed, when at that time there were only 2 people dead.

But it was quickly disproved by @Boston_Police.

It is also remarkable how the citizens not only of Boston but even of Canada offered help to those in need though the hashtag #bostonhelp, not to forget the quick opening of the  Google’sperson finder and those who unlock their Wifi networks to enable people in the streets to freely access the Internet.