Twitter, Facebook and other Internet-based social media are serving as useful communication tools following last Friday’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan which have led to voice telecommunications difficulties. When telephone connection difficulties emerged just after the magnitude 9.0 quake jolted northeastern and eastern Japan on Friday afternoon, Twitter in particular gained popularity as it enabled people to post short messages to their followers. These online social networking services can be accessed via personal computers or mobile phones with Internet capability even in some of the disaster-hit regions where voice communication has become almost impossible.
After the quake, a man who was on a business trip to Aomori Prefecture in northeastern Japan posted a message on Facebook reporting his safety, saying, electricity has returned in front of Aomori Station. I will spend one more night here in the absence of transportation means. He soon received a return message from one of his friends saying, I’m glad to hear you are safe.