Twitter saves lives

Friday May 13th, 2011

The social network service Twitter may have played a key role in saving lives during the Japanese earthquake disaster, doctors revealed today.

At least one group of doctors used the tweeting service to tell patients where to get drugs.

As well as direct notifications, the messages then spread through patient networks, cardiologists Drs Yuichi Tamura and Keiichi Fukuda, of the Keio University School of Medicine, reports.

The doctors said this enabled messages to get to a group of patients of "extreme concern" - as they were meant to receive continuous-infusion prostacyclin for pulmonary hypertension - high blood pressure in the chest.

They say all patients received their medication.

The web-based service proved useful as the internet continued working although phone networks broke down - making phone texting unreliable.

Writing in The Lancet, the cardiologists say: "Forming a supply chain for such drugs in the earliest stages of the disaster was difficult; however, we found that social networking services could have a useful role.

"We were able to notify displaced patients via Twitter on where to acquire medications. These 'tweets' immediately spread through patients' networks, and consequently most could attend to their essential treatments."

Dr Tamura adds: "Our experience has shown that social networking services, run concurrently with physical support, were significant in triumphing over many difficulties in the recent catastrophe."

The Lancet May 13 2011

Tags: Asia | General Health | Pharmaceuticals

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