The USGS is now testing out Twitter to collect early response information about earthquakes: “the USGS is developing a system that gathers real-time, earthquake-related messages from the social networking site Twitter and applies place, time, and quantity data to provide geo-located earthquake detection within 60 seconds of an event’s origin time.” Social media can be a valuable tool in helping to assess earthquake hazards through anecdotal information from hundreds and potentially thousands of local users. The USGS hopes to use this information to speed up the delivery of hazard information and earthquake response products. Follow USGS TED on Twitter to follow the progress of this study and to see maps of tweets following earthquakes such as the one below of the 3.7 magnitude earthquake centered at Pleasanton, CA on October 13, 2009. (Via SocialMediaToday & ChrisSpagnuolo)
