wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Twitter's not a fad. Mobile communications are critically important in these disaster scenarios. See http://bit.ly/69VRZq for an unfunded DARPA initiative to address this. The Crisis camps help to bridge a big gap that is well understood by those involved in relief operations, but a larger sustained effort is needed.

Hey John, how 'bout that - Happens every once in while.

Haiti needs food, water, and an infrastructure to rebuild itself. Twitter needs to be put on the back burner in the short term. This episode is not relevant.

Could you do better at contrasting apples and oranges than choosing to complain that twitter didn't work so well in an enormous natural disaster vs. planning political protests?

And then complain about the localized information, etc. for a guy sitting in his chair in the U.S.? Who doesn't even speak kreyole? How much more clueless can you be?

BTW, Richard Morse, of RAM, twitter constantly, and still twitters, and his news was and remains the most accurate on the ground we can gather.

Truth, we agree on something!!!! wow!!!

ahhh the media...this segment is a waste..why aren't we discussing feeding the hungry or burying the dead?

These people in Haiti are hungry, for food and shelter. Please the world does not revolve around the latest internet fad.

Big fan of Andy Carvin and his organization of three Crisis Camps for Haiti.

It's likely that Twitter doesn't work best in natural disaster situations since power and telephone lines can be knocked out. And to expect that a poor country like Haiti to use Twitter is foolish. Twitter requires a mobile phone or computer with internet connection. Those are luxuries.

"Did Twitter Fail Haiti?" isn't what he's asking. He's just complaining that he couldn't get news of Haiti conveniently enough, from Twitter. A "luxury problem," to be sure!

Twitter has also failed in the healthcare debate. A real debate with lots of important bits of information.

I think twitter worked for the Iran protests because it was new therefore newsworthy.

Twitter can be delivered to your cell phone. I realize this is also a luxury, but not quite the same luxury as having a computer/Internet access/electricity.

you're forgetting brian williams coming on the The Daily Show announcing nbc was there before the US Military - if that is shameless and disgusting corporate promotion in the face of human suffering - what is?

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/tue-february-2-2010-brian-williams

Of Course the media, obsessed with itself, is facebooking and twittering and blogging about themselves and their observation of people's suffering. Self important navel gazing.

Hugh, your right on the money, it is a silly premise for an episode. Iran has a well educated and relativly affulent middleclass.

Haitians are not facebooking and twittering, they are worried about eating.

One simple thought: Twitter requires (1) an intact electrical system and (2) population that is sufficiently well-off to have sustained connections to the internet.