Social media inside of Indianapolis has exploded and scattered everywhere, spreading to both businesses and individuals alike. This is a story of two different events that had two completely different social media responses.

July 4th, 2009 – Disappointment on the Canal

The weather had started easing up from a hard rain to a light drizzle. The area around was all damp and the Canal had people scattered down it.  Some had their music playing and waiting for the beginning of the fireworks display since the news stated the fireworks would go as long as there was no thunder or lightning. There was none so people waited patiently. My group arrived about 5 minutes before it was suppose to start firing off. We had been anticipating seeing them even though it was raining and our legs were a little sore from walking so far to get where we could watch. The time rolls around when they were suppose to go off – nothing. So people waited, after about 30 minutes, most of them had left.  During that time I had sent messages to Twitter to find out if anyone knew anything. The only responses I got back were, “I think they’re going to launch them tomorrow” but no one knew for sure. We waited and luckily found a spot that was dry for part of the time. We had called people looking up information on the internet and none of the websites had updated saying they were not going off that night.

We waited about an hour, and disappointed that no one thought it would be a good idea to inform the public that they had been canceled.  We make it back to the car and are driving home, the phone rings. The first mention of the fireworks being canceled was an hour and fifteen minutes after they were suppose to start. brought up the anchor and headed home. We were all pretty soaked.  No updates were ever mentioned on websites or radio.  Nothing.

October 22nd, 2009 – A Fireball Erupts

On this morning in the Northeast side of Indianapolis, people are going about their usual morning commute when the sky is lit up after a propane tanker explodes. Flames shot into up as thick smoke billowed into the air. Within moments the Twitter streams are filled with pictures and comments about the earth shaking and the flames going as high as 200 feet into the air. The situation evolved so rapidly, that news crews were scrambling to ask people to send in their pictures of the fire so that they could have firsthand images. The news of I-465 being closed for a few days came shortly after, so everyone needed to find a different way home. Within several minutes enough people had enough information about the crash to know that they needed to find their way with alternate routes. With many of the people who commute on Twitter and other social media, updates were quick, making traffic bearable for thousands of people impacted.

The Difference and How It Changes Us

Though many discredit the idea of people using social media for factual, real-time purposes, the use of it has greatly helped many in situations similar to those above.  Many even remember that Michael Jackson’s death was found first on Social Media leaving news teams racing to catch up. The increase of social media has been helping improve how people get information.

We use to gather our news from a television station or the radio, now that our office environments don’t allow for so much use of those methods, we have moved to a more individual approach to getting information. With the ability to connect to major news companies and people around your city, you can now get information quickly and at a time when it is easiest for you to retrieve it. We are entering a new era, I think it’s for the better.

Matthew Wilson : Currently doing youth ministry for his church Community Christian Fellowship, loves learning about great ways technology can impact peoples lives for communication.