October 30, 2007 9:24 PM PDT

Magnitude 5.6 Twitterquake hits Bay Area

(Credit: USGS)

It was only because I was changing my son's diaper at 8:04 PM tonight that I wasn't online immediately after the house stopped shaking. But when it did, and I did, and the boy was asleep, and the house was checked for damage (none), and the wife was confirmed OK, what's the first thing I did? I went to the USGS Web site to see what had happened and to Twitter (via Snitter) to see how my friends were doing.

As I've written before, disasters are social, and Twitter is a great social platform for connecting people during those times. This quake was no disaster, fortunately (and if it was, it's unlikely as many people would be online and Twittering), but I've never felt so connected to my online pals as I did just a few minutes ago.

Neologism credit ("Twitterquake"): Brian Caldwell.

Rafe Needleman writes about start-ups, new technologies, and Web 2.0 products, as editor of CNET's Webware. E-mail Rafe.

Topics:: Social network and groups

Tags:: earthquake,; Twitter,; USGS,; I need a drink

Share:: Digg; Del.icio.us; Reddit; Facebook; Twitter

Inside CNET News

Scroll Left Scroll Right

Business Tech
Kindle is most gifted Amazon item, ever
Statement on holiday sales declares the Kindle king; On Christmas Day, for the first time ever, more books for the e-reader sold than physical copies.
Gallery
Top-rated reviews of the week (photos)
The Open Road
Open source became big business in 2009
Open source has always been an important sideshow for software vendors, but in 2009 it became the main event thanks to Google.
Beyond Binary
Visual Studio launch delayed by 'a few weeks'
Microsoft says it's still working to resolve some performance issues related to the Visual Studio 2010 developer tool suite, which was slated for a March release.
Video
Behind the scenes of CBS's NFL coverage
Technically Incorrect
Google makes its home page a Chrome page
Without apparent notice or fanfare, Google adorns its home page with a very visible ad for Chrome.
Video
Deep-sea volcanic explosion--part 2 (video)
The Social
Facebook COO nominated to Disney board
Sheryl Sandberg, who has been chief operating officer of the social network for nearly two years now, will join the board if shareholders approve in March.
The Space Shot
Soyuz craft docks, boosts space station crew
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked with the International Space Station Tuesday after a smooth, automated approach, boosting the lab's crew back up to five.
Gallery
Lookout keeps an eye on mobile-device security (photos)
Crave
New, terrifying, no-electronics U.S. flight security rules?
The TSA hasn't made an official ruling, but it appears the failed terrorist attack Friday is leading to restrictions on in-flight electronics on a case-by-case basis.
Green Tech
Ford sees bump in hybrid sales
Carmaker says its hybrid sales are up 67 percent this year, despite an 11 percent slump industrywide.