The Saving-Lives Effect of Web 2.0

Interesting news today both about the role that Twitter played in the Chinese earthquake. Twitter-a-holic Robert Scoble claims that Twitter had news before the United States Geological Survey, the body that doles out early warnings of such events. Not surprising the blogosphere is abuzz with the news and a lot of former doubters, now wonder if Twitter isn't as superficial as they once thought.

It's interesting how many times some life-saving or deeply human application of Web technology is the turning point in public opinion that it's mainstream. We saw this most recently with Facebook's role in communicating about the Virginia Tech killings and its role in organizing Columbian protests. I'm trying to think of other specific examples and it seems they have more to do with the Web or text messaging in general than specific companies, which could lend credence to the theory that social networking really is a new platform, or the new "operating system" of the Web. (Are there other examples I'm forgetting? Thinking there was probably a Skype version of this...)

But more than that, I think it underscores the real power of Web 2.0 sites. They're all about connection and communication. A big theme of my book is that this wave of Web companies won't produce as many large public companies as the 1990s did, but will produce far more socially transformative ones. I think these little examples are just the beginning, particularly outside the U.S. where rapid, mass communication isn't a matter of telling readers what Steve Jobs just said at MacWorld, but saving lives. Interesting fact I learned in Israel: The government uses SMS messages to alert people when bombs are launched, giving them crucial seconds to take cover.

You wonder if, in the future, it may done using Twitter. Of course, that puts far more pressure on Twitter to stay online than even the tech elite have been heaping on the company of late. (If that's possible!)

Comments

[Rachel Bremer]

Hi Sarah - as another example, I remember a lot of talk about Flickr being used after the 2004 tsunami to share photos of people who were impacted and it quickly spread awareness of the extent of the damage.

[sarah lacy]

oh yeah! thanks rachel! do you know of a skype example?

[Rachel Bremer]

I did hear about how Skype was used in 2005 after an earthquake in Japan when landlines and mobile phones weren't working, but not sure if that really put them on the map in the way you're talking about. For a more recent example, I've been reading more and more about businesses, schools, etc incorporating Skype into their emergency planning. In case the phone lines go down, they set up backup WiFi networks and would use Skype to communicate. Here's one related article: http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/columns/article.php/3722926. Hope that helps!

[Jeremiah Owyang]

Sarah

I agree, there are some powerful positive outputs to this.

I recently donated to the Red Cross and blogged it, so far, three others have donated, directly or indirectly of my evangelism

Would you consider updating your post with a link to the redcross, and encouraging your readers to donate? would be great, we can actually make a difference.

[sarah lacy]

hey jeremiah- absolutely! tracking down your blog now