Res Ges(Tweet)

Social networking site Twitter is in the spotlight once again with the newsworthy account of a man in Bangalore who tweeted while trapped in the burning Carlton Hotel with six others awaiting slow and painful rescue from the blaze. He was besieged with interviews afterwards, tweeting that he was tired and lost count of them. When he was asked why he was tweeting while his life was in danger, he answered that 'We were trapped in a corner where there was nothing to do but wait. Only a moron would tweet when they should be running.'

This piece of news reminded me of another Twitter-related incident that ended in a tragedy. On December 17, 2009, a mother (Military Mom) lost her 2-year old son to an accidental drowning in their pool at home. She came under fire for tweeting about her son's accident and again, 5 hrs later, to tell her followers about his death and even posted a photo of him.

While she received condolences from her tweeps (her followers), she was also besieged with an outpouring of rage from all over the world. Mostly accused of being a negligent mother and a Twitter addict, the most painful accusations perhaps were the ones that blamed her for the death of her son. Momblogger, a Filipina political web commentator and founder of aboutmyrecovery.com came to her defense while many, or even most, found her tweeting horrifying and shameful. The issue was hotly debated when it first came out, with social media analysts quick to defend Military Mom's tweeting habits versus reactions that social networking sites are taking over people's lives to the point that these tragedies happen.

I wondered how this incident would have played out had it happened in the Philippines. At the height of Ondoy, when most of our telecoms fell apart, people received news, were saved and rescued through Facebook and Twitter. Bayanihan manifested itself even in cyberspace as people used social networking sites and other web tools to gather and disseminate vital information to aid rescue efforts. So, where I'm coming from, Twitter is not necessarily as destructive as angry critics are making it out to be.

The difficulty in Military Mom's situation is that she craved the comfort and sympathy of a virtual community with whom she interacted constantly, a large group of online followers (5,000) that possibly outnumbered her real-life friends. Unfortunately, the very same community she had hoped would help her through a difficult time in her life turned on her because they found her tweeting and reaction to the tragedy appalling.

If Military Mom were in the Philippines, perhaps she would not be as lonely as army wives are in the US (given our "hospitality" and accomodating nature). She would probably have her fair share of neighbors who would gladly help her watch her son or even just be there at her house chatting and playing with her son. Most likely she would have texted or called people within the vicinity to help her, since she would not rely on the police or the ambulance to get to her house in time to save her son. She might not even be tweeting at all because she would either have other things to occupy her time or she might not have internet connection available to her.

At the end of the day, we ask, what good would it have done that she could have tweeted to her 5,000+ followers about the unfortunate incident as it happened when none of them (as they were mere virtual friends) could have really helped her, and worse, blamed her and called her names for her son's untimely death? It seems that technology moves so fast that it forgets to carry along its passenger - real and actual or physical human relations.

Entry no.12