BLOG NETWORK: The Iceland volcano eruption that brought chaos to European air travel showed how social media is becoming a dominant force in crisis communication.
As airline call centres became swamped with demands for information on April 15, British Airways and Lufthansa were among those who turned to Twitter to update stranded passengers and answer queries.
As Shashank Nigam, CEO of SimpliFlying.com, reports in a guest blog for Mashable, there were over 55,000 mentions of the term #ashtag in seven days. He singles out EuroControl, the European air safety organisation, for the speed and breadth of their online response using Twtter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Stranded passengers desperate to complete their journeys shared their experiences on social media sites, while complete strangers offered beds, lifts and food through the Twitter #getmehome hashtag.
For journalists switched on to social media, these sites provided a constant stream of new angles and unfolding human interest stories.
FULL STORY: Mashable
Birds of a feather: A screenshot of the British Airways Twitterfeed
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