Social Media: Communication Hero During Japan's Earthquake

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At the moment...

The impact of the March 2011 Earthquake in Japan has been upgraded from 8.9 to 9.0 on the Richter Scale (FOX News).
Reports reveal that the earthquake shifted the main island of Japan 8 feet!
Japanese officials are using sea water to cool a nuclear reactor - three are in concerning condition.
Experts are saying we could see another earthquake with approximate impact of 7.0.

This horrific disaster has certainly dominated the news for the past few days!

Even now, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan are 4 of the top 10 current Google search trends.

Social Media Saves The Day

Since March 11th, social networks have allowed people of Japan to communicate with each other, and with other parts of the world.

Phone networks were down according to all news media reports. Yet people were able to communicate social media...

Person-finder App via Google - Helping find and connect people after the disaster.

Facebook & Twitter - Sharing instant personal updates with family and friends.

Within the first day 16,000 videos had been uploaded to YouTube about the earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, according to ABC News.

Often, social media has allowed crisis management officials an avenue for situational awareness.

Twitter-verse Unite!

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Very quickly the Twitter stream was flooded with tweets including news, pictures, prayers, and rallies to help. The hashtag #prayforjapan was quickly adopted.

As you can see, celebrities were a big part of the conversation. Calls for donation are consistent, and many dollars of contribution have been stimulated through Twitter.

Even now, #prayforjapan is the top trending topic on the Twitter social network.

The News Continues

Death tolls and predictions continue to change. Just this morning, the Japanese Prime Minister officially announced that this is Japan's toughest crises since World War II.

The news networks know how powerful social media can be! As I was searching for a video with a more local point of view, I found it hard to find a quality view that was not dominated by an international news network.

Here are some eye witness waves after the tsunami: