A rare late-October snowstorm in the Northeast illustrates how social has changed the way we communicate--and the ways businesses can leverage social media or be burned by it.
I have power in my Massachusetts home as I sit and type this column. However, after a rare (not in my lifetime, anyway) late-October Nor'easter, many of my friends and neighbors are not so lucky. Some have been without power since Saturday, when the storm started, and it's not looking like we'll be back to normal any time soon as emergency crews struggle to deal with lines brought down by trees that were still bearing their autumn-hued (and really heavy when snow covers them) leaves .
It's at a time like this when I realize how much social networking has changed our lives and the way we communicate and consume information--not to mention the extent to which social can engender good will when businesses use it effectively or shine a bright and wide spotlight on organizations' foibles.
We lost power at my house for about two hours Saturday. No big whoop. Power restored, my family and I went about the business of sitting around and watching scary movies in anticipation of Halloween (a time we aren't usually hunkered down in the middle of a snowstorm). The next day we got up bright and early to clear the driveway, the back deck, and the front walkway, then decided to venture out for gas and a few necessities at Target. Little did I realize that I was about to embark on a journey of Odyssean proportions--all because I hadn't checked Facebook that morning.
Being daytime, I didn't notice that there were no lights on. Living in a rural community, I didn't hit a streetlight for a few miles. The fact that the streetlight was out was my first hint that something was amiss, but this particular light happens to be out a lot, so I didn't think very much of it.
Then we hit the next streetlight, and it wasn't working. Neither was the next or the next. OK, now I knew something was up. My fears were confirmed when we hit the one gas station that had both fuel and power. The cars were 10-deep at each pump, with people filling not only their tanks but as many gas cans as they could carry.
0 comments:
Post a Comment