Twitter to the rescue

I’ve heard of people using Twitter to get help from people nearby. Guy Kawasaki needed a power cable for his laptop while staying (if memory serves) at the Hotel del Coronado. A nearby resident read the tweet and offered to drop by with a spare on his way to work.

But I don’t think it has ever gotten more local than this:

At Ragan Communications’ Social Media Conference in the Wynn Encore hotel, a few participants were live-tweeting sessions. There would have been more live-tweeting and live-blogging going on had it not been for the $45,000 price tab for WiFi in the meeting rooms, so those live-tweeting were using their phones or had digital broadand on their laptops.

Conference staff were wandering from room to room making sure all was well while others stuck around the registration desk, where a laptop was tracking the session hashtag, #socmedlv. One of the staff suddenly noticed this tweet:

The Ragan staffer was able to rush down to the meeting room, a few hundred feet away, cancel the rest of the session and get care for the speaker, who eventually was fine (we heard it was a severe case of travel exhaustion).

While somebody in the room undoubtedly would have gone out to get a conference staffer, seeing the tweet saved several minutes. Had it been a heart attack instead of travel exhaustion, those couple minutes might have made all the difference.

Another unintended positive consequence of Twitter, wouldn’t you say?

1. And this is where the power of the Realtime of Twitter works wonders, it’s not only allowed me to follow people’s thoughts on talks as I did at the Social Networking World Forum in London but also to see where people were and meet with them in the conference area.

   The example you give is slightly more unique, but equally as useful

   Posted by Josh Chandler  on  03/13  at  08:29 AM

2. I have not yet seen any benefits to using twitter for myself..I have an account but dont frequent it at all..but thanks Shel for showing us that it is useful for something good besides tweeting that someone is at Starbucks..or in the restroom!

   Posted by mike cobb  on  03/14  at  09:41 AM

3. Oh come now, Shel. If you’re going to laud Twitter for this life-that-wasn’t-in-danger-that-Twitter-MIGHT-POSSIBLY-(but-not-probably)-have-helped-save ... then you’re up against whatever statistics are out there of people killing themselves and others while texting, Blackberrying, Twittering, and otherwise under the spell of the instant-communication fever while behind the wheel.

   I’d wager social media and our obsession with constant connectivity has cost at least as many lives as it’s saved.

   It’s a bet we’ll never settle, of course. All the best ones are.

   Posted by David Murray  on  03/16  at  10:41 AM

4. Shel - I’m as addicted to Twitter as you are - but c’mon! Someone sitting next to the person who felt dizzy coulda asked “Are you ok? Do you need help?”

   If he/she was sick, the age-old emergency standby “Is there a doctor in the house?” would certainly have been the fastest way to get help - after calling 911.
   Any or all of the above would have beat a tweet

   Posted by B.L. Ochman  on  03/24  at  06:32 AM

5. Hi Shel
   I love conferences! And I hate the inconsistent availability of wireless in conference hotel meeting rooms. When will they wake up?
   http://educationpr.org/2009/04/03/inconsistent-hotel-wireless-is-inexcusable/

   Posted by paul baker  on  04/03  at  05:00 PM