Social media is fast becoming the place people turn to find family and to update loved ones about their safety. Google uses “Person Finder” to help locate people in wake of Boston bombings.
The service allows people to state that they’re looking for people who they believe to be missing or to provide information they might have on someone. The service was last put to use in the wake of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami which rocked the coast of Japan in 2011 and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
The mobile phone networks jammed following the Boston marathon explosion and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency tweeted, "if you are trying to reach friends or family and can't get through via phone, try texting instead (less bandwidth)".
YouTube has created a dedicated page collating video relating to the blasts, which has 26 videos ranging from clips shot on mobile phones by people at the scene to the President’s press conference.
The Boston police and the FBI posted messages to social media calling for anyone with video of the finish line at the time of the explosion to come forward.
Will social media help to better act after large scale disasters and could the law enforcement use this data to track the responsible?