::Rants - How I know so much about the fire... In short, I registered with Twitter. I am not a big fan of social networking. Until 2 days ago. In trying to get access about fires, road access and the like, the web sites that you would usually access were either struggling with the weight of visitors, or the information was stale and next to useless.

In frustration, I registered as a Twitter user, and *literally* within seconds, I had found users and channels that were sending updates, *literally* every few seconds. I was getting sensational information about fire locations, road access, even weather conditions, in virtual real time (a few seconds delay).

In the last few days I have become a bit of a Twitter expert. I am part of a community of users that keep each other informed with all sorts of information, including the behavior of opportunistic companies, the needs of different groups in different areas, and great information as to how to be of some practical help.

I know social networking can be a very superficial means of relating (or not relating as a matter of fact!). I know that it can be used to posture, pretense and essentially live a lie.

But in the last few days, I have discovered that it has helped me to find out if my family and neighbors a safe, to connect to old and new friends, trying to figure out how we can best respond to something overwhelming, from so far away (I am still in Queensland!). I am a believer! Peace out (or should I say Tweet out?) to all my Twitter buddies that have kept me in the loop. You know who you are...

PS - I am www.twitter.com/neurosys

Labels: Twitter, Victorian Fires

  Posted by Stephen @ 1:15 PM