The crucial role of the Internet and social media

In times of calamities, social media has once again played a crucial role in disseminating vital information. And there’s no time as vital as last week when super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) devastated many parts of Visayas, and communications on both ends failed. People outside the typhoon-hit areas simply scrambled for whatever information they could get on social networks.

Forget the bickering between TV journalists Korina Sanchez and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, which hugged a bit of comedrama online, that’s nothing compared to what social media did as a whole—again, going beyond its normal role distributing the often mundane status shoutouts and selfish selfies of many—this time providing loads of information one can’t get from normal channels.