Courtney levasseur's List: Boston Marathon Bombing

• , cell phone service disappeared for countless people.
• the network must've been overloaded with people trying to find loved ones.
• (Motherboard's Derek Mead was able to send text messages to both his sister and her boyfriend, who were very near the finish line, shortly after the bombing, which suggests that networks were never totally shut down.
• . And it is possible that Boston police used cell jamming equipment, which is technically illegal.)
• However, the role that technology played in other aspects of the rescue effort is profound.
• As has become standard for breaking news events, reports of the explosions showed up first on social media, and in the first few minutes after the explosions, multiple horrific photos showed up on Twitter and Facebook showing dozens of people on the ground, the sidewalk stained red with blood.
• With cell service down, however, the 30,000 odd marathoners and their friends and family were unable to communicate. It didn't take long for people to hack the Boston Marathon Athlete Tracker to find the location of the runners, while Google got its person finder up and running.
• Bostonians to open their WiFi connections for public use, in the vein of the "free WiFi" movement. 
• David Willey, editor of Runner's World magazine, said it best when he tweeted: "I have been dreading the possibility of this day for many years."

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• As the events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombings unfolded, social media were a great supplier of information for many — and a source of inaccurate information and frustration for some.
• A quarter of Americans got information about the devastating explosions and the hunt for the bombers on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter
• Slightly more than half (56%) of an 18-to-29 year subgroup polled by Pew got bombing-related news through social networking sites.

• Those sites offer a convenient way to get news, especially since many users are constantly on them, says Michael Dimock, director of Pew's public opinion and polling project.

  They "are on Facebook, and the information is just flowing at them," he says.

• As people on social media, including journalists, sometimes conveyed wrong information last week, "it was challenging to know what (sources) to trust," he says.
• Another challenge for social media users in the wake of a tragedy: figuring out what is appropriate to share and what is not. For instance, some social media users posted graphic images of bombing victims.
• About one in 10 Pew respondents (12%) said social media sites offered an "easy" and "convenient" way to follow the Boston Marathon news. Nearly the same number (11%) said social networks provided "fast" and "up-to-date" information.
• Six percent said they used social media to keep up with friends and family who were in Boston.
• While social media kept Americans informed, many people also turned to traditional sources to keep up on the events of last week.
• TV was the most widely used source of information about the bombings, according to Pew, used by 80% of Americans. Four in 10 kept up via radio reports, and three in 10 read newspapers.
• Nearly half got news online or on a mobile device.
• Overall, 63% of Americans said they followed the bombing-related updates very closely, making it one of the biggest news stories since 2001,

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• "They're relying very, very heavily both on social media along with photographs and video to help try to solve this quickly," Roman said
• FBI and police officials this week called on the thousands of visitors and runners in the area of the blast who may have filmed or photographed the neighborhood on their cellphones to share their amateur video
• Authorities have already said that they have received some clues from surveillance video taken by local businesses in the area of the bombing.
• "This was probably one of the most photographed areas in the country yesterday," Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said.
• With so many cell phones today with video features, the amount of video that will pour into investigators' hands – both of the blast and of the days leading to the race – will be unprecedented, said Grant Fredericks, a forensic video analyst who works as a consultant for law enforcement agencies.
• Social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, will also be carefully sifted through for clues, said Roman, who learned of the bombings from a Twitter message from his 21-year-old daughter several minutes before seeing it on CNN.

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• Indeed, as word spread of the blasts on Monday afternoon, social media seemed shaped by every aspect of the response, from runners giving their accounts of the race-turned-nightmare on Facebook, to authorities using Twitter to give instant updates, to The Boston Globe temporarily converting its homepage to a live blog that pulled in Tweets from Boston authorities, news outlets, and ordinary citizens.
• Terrorism experts said that social media helped people in Boston and beyond determine their next steps after hearing about the explosions.
• "Authorities have recognized that one the first places people go in events like this is to social media, to see what the crowd is saying about what to do next," said Bill Braniff, Executive Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism.
• "And today authorities went to Twitter and directed them to traditional media environments where authorities can present a clear calm picture of what to do next."
• "We know from crisis communication research that people typically search for corroborating information before they take a corrective action—their TV tells them there's a tornado brewing and they talk to relatives and neighbors. And now they look at Twitter."
• On Monday, information about the blasts spread more quickly on social media than through traditional news outlets.
• I was first notified to the event by my daughter, who was on Twitter, and that was before it came out on CNN," said Anthony C. Roman, president of a security consulting firm in New York called Roman and Associates.
• That way of instantly spreading information far beyond the affected area also builds an online community around such events that can cross state and national borders.
• On Monday afternoon, #BostonMarathon quickly became a trending hashtag on Twitter.
• "If I'm here in Washington, D.C., and I'm on Twitter and can demonstrate my empathy, it helps create this idea of resolve or community solidarity with people who are there on the ground in a way that uni-dimensional media doesn't do," said Braniff. "Online, I can express outrage or sympathy."
• people use social media to react to national disasters and human-made ones like the Boston bombings.

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• As the tragedy of the Boston Marathon bombing unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear the extent of influence social media has on our world today.
• Although the speed at which information is shared caused an inundation of false reporting and vitriolic accusations to flood in, it also perpetuated an outpouring of kindness and generosity in the aftermath of this terrible event.
• Although the speed at which information is shared caused an inundation of false reporting and vitriolic accusations to flood in,
• Although the speed at which information is shared caused an inundation of false reporting and vitriolic accusations to flood in,
• Much of the tips and information sharing turned into speculation, with both the internet and national news sources reporting false and even biased statements.
• CNN, at one point, informed audiences about a suspect awaiting arrest in custody, before having to retract such statements mere moments later.
• According to news site The Chronicle of Higher Education, "before the suspects were named in the twin blasts, several young men, mostly South Asian or Middle Eastern, were convicted in the court of public opinion.
• . This wave of fervor also led to innocent people being accused of violent actions, as users on forums like reddit and 4chan churned out dubious theories of who the suspected bombers were, and names flooded through the internet.
• In addition, major news sources like The New York Post picked up on such online guesswork and printed in bold captions on the front page of their newspaper, "Bag Men: Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon", written over an image of two young men wearing backpacks, with one sporting a baseball cap. In fact, neither of the two males had anything to do with the bombings
• One of the boys depicted in the picture, Salah Eddin Barhoum, 17, is so distraught over the hateful online comments he has received because of the misunderstanding that he is scared to go to school
• While negative consequences have arisen from misinformation and hearsay, social media has also played a pivotal and positive role in providing care and aid for those affected by the Boston Marathon bombing.
• Stories of generosity and cooperation have come through because of people's willingness to put the needs of others over their own.
• Countless runners and civilians alike rushed through the chaotic crowds to help those injured and frightened.
• Over Twitter, Facebook, and other online outlets, people recounted the kindness offered to them from strangers following the frightening and frenzied situation.
• atton Oswalt's Facebook reaction may affirm what many feel right now. The viral statement, shared almost 300,000 times, contains the excerpt: "If it's one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is no
• Social media has proven that, when utilized correctly, it can bring people together for a common cause.

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• Last week, the New York Post ran a front page photo of two teenage runners under the headline "Bag Men," implying that they had something to do with the Boston Marathon backpack bombs.

  It turns out those kids had nothing to do with the attacks. But they came to the public's attention after their images were scooped up and pored over by hundreds of online amateur sleuths.
• In fact, one reason investigators released photos of the suspects last week was to tamp down on rumors.
• Unfortunately, Madrigal says, "people started to develop this theory that Sunil Tripathi was one of the bombers." Tripathi is a 22-year-old student at Brown University who has been missing since mid-March.

• The rumor was baseless, but it spread.

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• Boston marathon related tweets numbered over 3.5 million during the last 24 hours. As we can see in the chart (Dates and Times are GMT) the initial level of Boston marathon social media mentions averaged around 10,000 per hour. By 19:00 GMT, 10 minutes after the first bomb exploded the number of mentions had reached almost 750,000, highlighting how ‘effective’ news was picked up and shared via social media in the short span of time immediately after/ during the event.   By 8 pm, social media mentions had reached their peak at just under 900,000, falling continuously thereafter.
• Twitter and other social media platforms in spreading news, some inevitable drawbacks can occur.
• ith panic high and a wealth of unofficial reports, misinformation can take place. So, a third bombing was reported to have happened in/at the JFK Memorial Library.
• ocial is proving its worth, with people being advised to use Facebook and Twitter to communicate with friends and family to inform or inquire about their well-being, with several tweets outlining the best way to use social media sites to do this.
• Google even launched a special person finder tool to facilitate news about individuals. In addition, Boston authorities were making full use of social media, especially Twitter, to inform and advise people on developments and what to do.  Further, Boston Police used Twitter to ask people to submit any footage they had from the marathon, and, specifically, the explosions.  All of which shows the positive potential social media and the web has during events such as this.
• The quickly established #BostonHelp was used to tweet important information and updates about where help and support was available. This was, and is, particularly aimed at people in locked-down areas, or runners stranded in Boston, offering food and places to sleep.
• The heartfelt messages and support offered under #BostonHelp, in conjunction with positive effects via news and emergency advice, shows the value of social media.

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