The rise of Twitter means we can share information with the world pretty much whenever we want. That’s led to some creative uses of the technology. Some of them have been life-saving. Some of them have been tragic.
1) Bank Robbery: Annemarie Dooling (who describes herself as a “Jet setting, Manhattan drinking, design obsessed sicko” who is also a web producer for an unnamed “popular talk show website”) was just at a bank some normal day when all of a sudden a robber came inside. Shortly after, she began tweeting about the robbery and about her missing trackball (which is why she can’t make calls). The tweets continued until after the police interviewed everyone and let them go. She praised the teller for their response during the crisis.
2) During Childbirth: You don’t really for that to be a private moment. Not if you’re the CEO of Twitter’s wife. Sara Williams, wife of Evan Williams, tweeted throughout the experience from the moment her water broke through the first diaper. The first tweet about the child birth read “Dear Twitter, My water broke. It wasn’t like Charlotte in Sex and the City. Now, timing contractions on an iPhone app.” Perhaps thankfully, no tweets came during the hardest part of the procedure.
3) A Miscarriage: It was just a normal day at the office for Penelope Trunk, chief executive at Brazen Careerist. Then, during a board meeting, she realized she was having a miscarriage. She cheerfully tweeted the news to her followers:
The internet exploded in outrage. How could a woman share that type of personal information with the whole world? Trunk was unapologetic and explained she had already endured two abortions and a miscarriage. Having the miscarriage then saved her from having to go through with an already scheduled abortion.
4) Drowning of a Child: Shellie Ross sparked a nationwide outcry when she tweeted about her son’s drowning right after it happened. That afternoon, she tweeted about a rare batch of fog in her neighborhood. Just 15 minutes later, she called paramedics because her child had fallen into the pool. Then, she posted a tweet which read, “Please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool.” Five hours later (after her son passed away) she posted again “Remembering my million dollar baby” with an attached picture. Ross says she was outside when her son fell into the pool. Her profile is Military_Mom.
5) During a Heart Attack: Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher suffered a major heart attack in late 2010. Doctors said it would have been fatal if not spotted early on. Christopher was rushed to a hospital in the back of an ambulance tweeting the whole way. Here’s a sample:
Colleagues immediately rushed to his aid and offered words of support. Thankfully, Christopher’s condition stabilized. He now has returned to work for Mediaite.
Tags: abortion, child birth, drowning, heart attack, miscarriage, tweeting, Twitter
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