It began as a low rumble. I thought someone was moving furniture in my building but then it grew stronger. I was being shaken, and for a few scary seconds I thought my apartment was going to split in two.
Then it stopped. Outside was a gorgeous sunny day. What happened?
I filed downstairs with my neighbors, none of whom knew exactly what we had experienced. Was this just on our block? I checked Twitter and saw that people from the around the Washington region were tweeting, “Earthquake.” Within seconds, someone had retweeted confirmation from the US Geological Society.
After I posted this anecdote on GovLoop, it was used in Washington Post article on disaster preparedness in federal government. The article highlighted the fact that informal networks, like Twitter, conveyed information more quickly and efficiently than official government channels.
