James Karl Buck helped free himself from an Egyptian jail with a one-word blog post from his cell phone.
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Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Mahalla, Egypt, covering an anti-government protest when he and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested April 10.
On his way to the police station, Buck took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging site Twitter.
The message only had one word. "Arrested."
After that one-word message was sent out James' followers started Tweeting and blogging about their friend's precarious situation. One friend even got on the ball and hired a lawyer on James' behalf. James was freed.
Less than 24 hours after he was arrested.
This is exactly the kind of thing that needs to be given the spotlight, and I'm super excited about seeing it on CNN.com. It's the sort of thing that can further help to spread awareness of how Twitter can function as more than just a fun tool or even a professional one, both of which are hats it wears quite well.
The only failing I see is that it can only benefit Twitter. If, as we rant about ad nauseum, this good press could have benefited the entire social networking/blogging community. We're always saying that Web 2.0 (And I'm caught playing Buzzword Bingo) companies, and those that are involved in social networking especially, should and need to form an industry organization to keep themselves safe from potential regulation hell.
Let's face it - Like it or not, a negative story will wash over an entire medium like wildfire. Did Janet Jackson's nipple focus the ire of over-reacting, zero-responsibility, whack-job, non-parents on CBS and the NFL? I think that we all know what the answer is there. As I've said about on-topic examples and as was discussed in our interview with Dr. Patrick Moore, it's true that forming an industry organization means working with your competitors. But it's working with your competitors so that you can be allowed to compete and to keep your own set of rules.
I won't go into much more detail, because I'd basically be reposting old info (more than I have already).
I'll close by giving big ups to Twitter, of which Andrew and I are big old fanboys. This kind of story is what can help to elevate a technology from "fun" to "professional" to that next level where it can be used for very serious situations. The same way that text messages and mobile phones in general have, the latter over the past decade and the former over the past 4-5 years.
Twitter, great job! Social Networking/Web 2.0 execs - Celebrate the good but team up and protect yourselves from the bad.
I'm not at all super excited -- I was appalled. CNN gave this fake story a big fluffball because they didn't understand the questions to ask.
Twitter has its uses and applications, we all get it. The idea that media has to be only about spreading happy little stories is sick. The ideology of "Emphasize the Good" sounds like Orwell -- precisely because only a few Valley influencers will get to pick what they think is good (like this fake story) and flog it to death.
The headline should have read: "29 Billion Dollars in US Foreign Aid to Egypt for 30 Years Helps Spring U.S. College Kid"