Hurricane Harvey and Social Media

I’ve heard it said that social media is the democratization of information, a place where everyone gets their say…and that, frankly, is why it’s become almost useless as a reliable information resource… This last week when Harvey stormed into the area, we evacuated our home at the urging of local authorities who feared the levee surrounding our community would be over-topped by the rising Brazos River.  Once we completed our trek to San Antonio and located a hotel that was willing to accommodate our family of three and two stupid 90lb dogs, I settled into a chair with my iPad to find out what was going on back home.  Unfortunately, news from a small community of two thousand homes doesn’t get top billing or even any real notice when there are literally tens of thousands of homes, a half million cars and trucks, and dozens of petrochemical plants and interstate highways sinking under the rising flood waters in the Houston region.  Given that reality, I was forced to turn to the insanity that is Facebook to get some idea of what was happening around our house. After scanning several Facebook pages associated with our community, I learned very few verifiable
Continue reading
Hurricane Harvey and Social Media. This article appeared first on CTRM Center.