Whenever something horrible happens, I cannot seem to have to right words to express what I'm feeling. Something similar happened when the earthquake struck Haiti. I knew inside what I was feeling, how I felt for the Haitians whose lives will never be quite the same and the Haitians who lost their lives, but I don't have the ability to articulate how tragic and how unfair it is. While I can't comment on how terrible things are in Haiti, I can comment on how terrific a role social media is playing in what's happening there right now. This past week, I came across an article that covered just that (see: http://thecustomercollective.com/TCC/49144?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=The+Customer+Collective+%28all+posts%29). Here, I'd like to expand on each of the points Rhodes covers in his article. Rhodes covers three aspects of social media's involvement: how it provides a voice for the victims, how it informs society of rescue attempts, and how it provides eyewitness content. I would recommend reading the full article to get a good sense of social media's involvement. What I want to cover here is how each social media outlet is playing a role. First, Twitter. Search "#haiti" on Twitter and you'll find a plethora of tweets. Some provide links to news articles covering the earthquake, some are personal stories from Haitians themselves directly after the earthquake struck, and still others are pleas for monetary help. A real estate agent announces that he's donating a portion of his commission to the Haitian relief services each year. A Haitian in the midst of the earthquake comments that people are singing when the night begins. And a statistician posts some horrifying, well, statistics. Second, Flickr. Flickr and other photo sharing sites like Photobucket, have done a fantastic part of notifying outsiders how tragic it really is. A picture of a mother and her sons standing in front of their demolished home. And then a picture of three young children, who probably lost their parents. There are grotesque images and some non-grotesque images, but all propose the same thing - things in Haiti are bad, and the photographs have inspired relief services. Third, YouTube. Pictures can only do so much. Since the earthquake, YouTube has been filled with videos that provide caught-on-tape images of the aftermath. The videos only add to the sympathy and compassion felt by non-Haitians. Fourth, Facebook. With the dawn of the option to create groups on Facebook, hundreds of groups have been created specifically for outreach purposes. Most link to websites like World Vision or the Red Cross where you can donate money toward relief services. Some are prayer groups, others simply support groups. Some are continually posting updates from news sources. Either way, Facebook plays a big part. As you can see, along with the mainstreem media, social media is playing a big part in spreading awareness of the earthquake in Haiti.