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USGS Develops Twitter-Based Earthquake Detection

Posted by samzenpus on from the whole-lotta-shaking-going-on dept.

sprinkletown writes "A team of seismologists at the US Geological Survey has found that Twitter is the fastest way to get information out of an earthquake area, especially in those less densely populated. Seeing the Twitter community as an untapped resource, the USGS has developed a new way to track earthquakes by clustering quake-centric tweets."

4 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Twitter as a news search engine by eihab · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've used Twitter's search before (out of desperation) when my wife thought that we had an earth quake and I didn't.

    To my surprise just 3 minutes later (time it took me to exhaust regular search engines), someone tweeted that they're having an earthquake a few miles away from where we live.

    Since that day I've been using Twitter's search to find up to the minute updates for topics that interest me (Intel's SSD firmware bug, conferences, etc.).

    I think Twitter is shaking up to be a very good source of news/information, if you can manage to find gems in the pile of "I just landed. WOOT!" tweets.

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    If you can't mod them join them.
  2. Thats a great idea by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Funny

    Twitter users can be repurposed as sensors for vibration, voltage and even temperature!

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    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  3. Re:First post! by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    it's a web site and you can put small messages on it that other people can read. That's all it is and ever was.

    I share your sentiment, but realize, HTTP is a method of transferring files. That's all it is and ever was.

    HTML is a method of marking up content. That's all it is and ever was.

    Instant Messaging is just email, but faster. That's all it is and ever was. ...until you realize that it's not the technology behind it, but how people use it, that make it what it is. When Twitter is used as a blog site, it's exactly as useless as you suggest. When it's used as a conversation, that's somewhat different.

    So no, I don't use it, but I think I'm starting to get what it's about.

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
  4. Re:you can die then, and do us all a favor by electrons_are_brave · · Score: 3, Insightful
    We had a fire near our work and with twitter I found out what was on fire and some basic details long before either the online news or the radio had anything other than "firefighters are fighting a blaze in X" with nothing else.

    The area concerned was heavily industrial, so it mattered to me what was on fire because of potiential fumes.

    Twitter is fast and useful for that occasional use. Which is why the army of constant micro-bloggers needs to be encouraged. We can then tap into their otherwise pointless garbage about everything that happens every moment of their lives. Because when something does happen, they will tweet about that.