The Los Angeles Times reported that Twitter, a social-networking/messaging service, was again the first to report on a natural disaster. The first report on Southern California recent 5.4 earthquake came from a Twitter user named Caroline (Vixy). Her post was short and simple: “Earthquake.”

Twitter has simply become one of the fastest ways to disseminate information, according to the LA times article. A similar phenomena occured when a 7.8 earthquake hit China, when information about aftershocks and the status of cities in the effected area was distributed through the service to other users. Twitter now also has a new search site (formerly called Summize) which makes it even easier to find information, according to The Los Angeles Times article.

VentureBeat’s Eric Eldon posted a message on Twitter: “hope no one was hurt in SoCal earthquake. also, not looking forward to yet more posts about twitter breaking the news *first*”, as quoted in The Los Angeles Times.






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