Posted: Mar 1, 2012 7:47 PM by Jacqui Heinrich Updated: Mar 1,
2012 8:24 PM With people using social media like Twitter and
Facebook more than ever, these sites are of growing importance
in emergency situations. During the school shooting in Chardon,
Ohio this week, students tweeted moment by moment, providing
real-time updates to responders who used that information to
direct aid. Local emergency service providers like the Colorado
Springs Fire Department are using these online tools to be more
effective at their own work. Officials tell us they recognize
the value of social media for sending mass-communication and
receiving to-the-minute updates in the field. "Other departments
have come to us and said how are you doing it, why did you do
it, why is our administration in such support of this? And they
really are because it is a way to get information out very
quickly," Sunny Smaldino told News 5 today. Experts say built-in
social media apps on mobile devices enable people to communicate
instantly to a broad