I use Twitter to network, build a following and share my ideas. Most importantly, I use it to learn. I love to learn.
But how many of us have ever used Twitter in the midst of a big life changing event? Imagine tweeting as you lay under the rubble from an earthquake, or lose contact with your loved ones after a tsunami.
This is exactly what happened in the early hours of the Japan earthquake, which happened on Friday, March 11. A Tokyo blogger began collecting tweets that originated in Japan beginning seconds after the first tremor.
A translator took them and translated them for the rest of the world to read. Imagine being in a place like Japan, all the phone lines are busy and there is no way to let people know that you are still alive. Twitter became the lifeline for many victims to notify their family and friends that they were alive.
Not only did they communicate their relief in making it through such a devastating event, but many tweets conveyed the beauty of the human soul, though rocked to the core in those early days, yet still caring for others and focusing on the people, like them, who are trying to make sense of the tragedy.
Read some of the most poignant tweets after the jump.
