Man Tweets From Plane Crash

Continental passenger users Twitter to detail his account of Saturday's accident.

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Scott Nichols
PC World
Wednesday, December 24, 2008; 12:18 AM

If you had just survived a plane crash, what would you do? Call loved ones to tell them you're okay? Check if your luggage survived? Twitter? Mike Wilson, a passenger on the Continental Airlines flight that skidded off the runway in Denver over the weekend chose option C, tweeting his experience for all to read.

Twitter is, of course, the popular blogging site where users can post short blog entries about what is happening in their lives. Wilson seems to have used Twitterific, an iPhone app, to tweet about his crash experience.

His twitter feed offers valuable insight into his initial reaction and his need for some relief from the crash. It is important to note that Wilson didn't begin twittering until after he was safely away from the plane crash scene and within the safety of the Continental Airlines president's club.

While I've never been a person to "get" twitter, this is the first time I can see actual use for it. When something big happens, like a plane crash, the first instinct of those outside is to try and find out what happened. Well, with Twitter, Mike Wilson was able to do exactly that. His tweets get the basic information out there to those interested or concerned, and do so with an honest and human voice. I guess Twitter does have its uses, even if they are limited to traumatic events such as plane crashes.



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