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So I was sitting in the bathroom (where I usually have crazy/genius ideas) and I imagined what would have happened if social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) had existed prior to September 11, 2001.
As crazy as the world is today, technology and social media and all these digital platforms have clearly reduced the information gap. Something can happen on the other side of the globe but have immediate impact due to the inter-connected nature of modern society and its dependence on these technologies.
It was just a crazy thought, but as chaotic and messy and disorganized everything seemed to be on 9-11, social media would have blown up with traffic and all sorts of misinformation/conspiracies/propaganda.
I know I don't have much to offer in this OP, but just thought this was an interesting topic for discussion (or not).
EDIT:
Here is a true story of why that day was personally relevant to me.
My father worked on the 107th floor of the first tower that got hit. He was actually late for work that day and as he approached the World Trade Center, a police officer stopped him from entering the building. The building that he worked at had already been hit by the first plane (but it was on the other side so he couldn't see anything wrong).
My dad saw the second plane collide with the other tower while standing at the bottom for the first one.
Since he didn't own a cell phone, he couldn't contact my mother. My brother was 4 years old and watching Dora the Explorer on TV, and he apparently did not understand what was going on at all.
I was in middle school and in gym class when the teachers told us what had happened. I remember some kids thinking it was a joke like in Spiderman or something. That whole day I stayed in school, not aware whether my dad was alive or dead.
Several hours later my dad finally came back home. It was dark outside. He had lost all his coworkers and boss that day, and he would be unemployed for many months after that.
  
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I also get my genius stroke on the toilet bowl
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Proof that punctuality is not always a good thing.
Your dad is one lucky man.
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just look at boston marathon and adapt accordingly. furthermore, all major live media interrupted their program for it. So i don't see that much of an information gap.
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Wow, this is pretty crazy to think about, you have 1,000 people in a burning building that know they have about a 0% survival chance. I cant imagine seeing posts about people really knowing the end is right there. This could of had a positive effect, as that final goodbye can help the grief recovery process much much more. As well as a negative effect as the real sinking feeling of those people would be posted and stored online forever.
You have my permission to go on the shitter more.
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Amazing story. I'm glad your dad was late to work. I had an uncle on one of the two planes that hit. I think it was the second one (the one they kept showing over and over all week).
I didn't know him very well as I live so far away from him and his family, but those who were closer to him were devastated.
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Sorry to hear about your dad's situation. Must have been one heck of a day for your entire family.
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Social media did exist during 9/11, at least in Sweden. It was of course not on the scale of Facebook and twitter, but Lunarstorm was more or less the exact same type of site (had 600 000 members in 2001), and yeah, there was definitely a buzz on 9/11.
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There are a lot of "What Ifs" about 9/11
Not quite the same but there is a 911 recording (911 not 9/11) from someone trapped inside the towers that lasts for 4-5 minutes then cuts out when the concrete structure collapses, crushing them.
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You were directly affected by the attacks on 9/11, and that must make you feel very connected to the aftermath of the events that took place. It's normal to think about what could have happened had the situation been different for the world, but I believe it is best not to ponder for too long on such possibilities.
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Your dad didn't have a portable phone? O_o
Social Media wasn't big back then, but portable phones and with that SMS allready were everywhere in the early 2000s.
I got my first cellphone kinda late in 1999, I was iirc the last to get one in my class (i just didn't need/want one before that, i spent my money on other stuff :p).
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On February 12 2014 19:45 Velr wrote:
Your dad didn't have a portable phone? O_o
It was 2001, not everyone had a mobile phone back then.
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I still remember vividly on that day when it happened. Some kid came into our class and told that the towers had been hit. The information gap wasn't that bad. We received the information around 10am-10:30am est and we were right in the area where is happened.
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There wasnt much of an information gap imo.
Heard it on the radio in the bus driving me to school at like 8.45 am...
we watched CNN in our english class that morning and we saw the towers fall live.
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On a related note, Seth MacFarlane (creator and voices of family guy) was supposed to be on the 2nd flight that crashed into the WTC. He had a string of weird occurrences that made him miss his flight.
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I craft my sickest HS decks while sitting on da bowl. This is an interesting topic. What if social media existed during say Rwanda genocide?
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On February 13 2014 01:39 Kevin_Sorbo wrote:
There wasnt much of an information gap imo.
Heard it on the radio in the bus driving me to school at like 8.45 am...
we watched CNN in our english class that morning and we saw the towers fall live.
It was available live across the globe as well. But that's not the point. How about some LR from the burning buildings? A youtube vid captured from the inside while the plane was approaching? Twitter going nuts 10 s after the crash. People crying all over facebook. Massive pro/anti groups about the aftermath, war etc. List goes on.
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EPT
