Stories Hit Home From Miles Away: The Power of Social Media

Newspapers are calling it the "Leap Day Tornado," but for my family in Branson and Kimberling City, it was a day that turned their world upside down.

I woke up to a phone call at 2:00 a.m. 

"There's a tornado in the Springfield area," my friend said. 

My hometown (Crane) is about 30 minutes south of Springfield, but my parents were spending the week at our lake cabin in Kimberling City. My family also owns a small business in Kimberling City and my summer job was in Branson (which is only a 30 minute's drive from Kimberling City). Basically, anything in the "Springfield area" raises a red flag. 

"It's hitting Branson now." he said. That raised the flag higher. 

"Ok." I responded, "How strong is it?"

Pictures of a demolished Joplin flashed in my mind. Tornados are all too real to me, and everyone else in southwest Missouri. I knew if it could happen there, it could happen anywhere. 

"It's taken out houses in Kimberling City," he said. 

I jumped out of bed, opened my laptop, and logged on to Twitter. Horrified, I scrolled through the list of constantly multiplying tweets. 

I clicked on a tweet from a local television station back home. I hung up the phone as my mind struggled to comprehend what I read, "Houses along Joe Bald Road in Kimberling City have been destroyed in the wake of this storm."

The family lake cabin is barely off of Joe Bald Road - I've driven that road countless times and could envision every turn. What I couldn't imagine was it completely destroyed. 

I hit speed dial to call my mom's cell phone. I could tell when she answered that they were okay. I wave of relief rushed over me. I prayed that everyone else in the community could say the same. 

I stayed awake that night, following tweets and facebook posts. I read every news update on every local television station's website. I was 4 hours from home, but it felt like I was there. My friends in Branson posted updates from their smartphones: "Everyone in our family is safe," "Pray for Branson," "Anyone in Branson/Kimberling City have power?"

I had never realized how fast news travels on social media. Maybe that's because I had never cared enough to notice. That was before everything that goes along with the word "home" was in changing before my eyes.

Social media is changing the way news is distributed. It's fast, it's constant, it's relevant. With the use of hashtags, readers can instantly filter out everything they don't want to read. As I continue to read about my crumbled community, I can instantly follow everything I need: #branson, #kimberlingcity. For me, it's as close to home as I can get. It's like I'm experiencing this tragedy along with my friends and family back home. 

As I analyze the way I followed this story, I realize the impact and importance of this new type of news outlet. Before I needed it, twitter was something I used for fun, for browsing funny quotes and pictures. Now, I fully understand it's place in media today. I'm grateful for the speed in which I was able to follow new developments in this story. 

As a journalist, it's important that I not only understand how social media works, but also that I learn to master it as a journalistic skill. I look forward to the future of social media and am excited to be working in an era of instantaneous news. 

For now, I'm focused on what's happening at home. Just as I watched it crumble, I'll watch it rebuild.