• What Hurricane Sandy Revealed About Mobile Media
• Here, the younger generation – who tends to have more familiarity with mobile media – was in a better position to gain news and information.
• Of particular note, the social media newsfeed was almost all mobile. Many people already get their news from mobile internet, but this was a case where mobile news was a necessity, not a preference. People did not have access to computers, internet, or televisions. Everybody was getting news from phones (and radio to a smaller extent). In this storm, without mobile social media, there could have been information silence for many people at precisely the wrong time.
• People used Facebook in order to offer assistance to others. People used Facebook to offer their homes and electricity to those nearby who needed it. The number of people offering to welcome others to come to their apartments in Manhattan through Facebook posts in order to use the shower or in order to have a place to sleep was large – and inspiring. Facebook posts such as “If anyone needs anything let me know” were common. Facebook and Twitter posts also served as a way to post more in-depth news coverage from traditional news sources, such as newspapers. A catastrophe like this usually brings out the best in people; and mobile media platforms like Facebook and Twitter mainly served as a vehicle for good.
• Here, the availability of the internet and more importantly mobile devices, was a major positive. If not for mobile internet connections, people would have been in the dark as to what was going on around them. People even flocked to places like Starbucks, banks and supermarkets in order to charge their phones because they serve as the only connection to the news, friends and relatives.
• With all the negative stories of mobile and social media use, it is refreshing to know that there are many positive applications for it too.

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• An effort of that scope might typically spring from a big, name-brand organization like the Red Cross. But “Rebuild Staten Island” was organized by Forzione -- and his Facebook page that has helped hundreds of families and thousands of “friends” impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
• Local Facebook users searching for news or information ended up by the thousands on Forzione’s page, “Rebuild Staten Island.” And Forzione only created the page after searching for Staten Island news himself and finding the results wanting.
• n Staten Island in particular, Facebook and Twitter users united by little more than a hashtag began to coalesce into active groups. #SIRecovers and #SIOpen were the first, with thousands of tweets over the course of the storm. “More cleaning supplies needed at Mt. Loretto at 6581 Hylan Blvd,” reads one typical message. “Plenty of blankets available at 900 Richmond Rd for pick up,” reads another.

• In the week after the storm, an Occupy kitchen in Sunset Park was serving upwards of 10,000 meals a day, its volunteers recruited through social media. The movement has signed on more than 15,000 volunteers through the web.

  “Everything we do is social-network oriented,” Carr says. “Social media is non-hierarchical, grassroots, open – it’s an incredible way to assess what’s going on and to get resources on the ground.”
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency already uses social media to crowdsource information. A FEMA spokesman, reached by phone, said the agency actively monitored Twitter during Hurricane Sandy for rumors and “situational awareness,” like what areas were flooding or where power was out. The Red Cross also took social media seriously during the storm; according to Fast Company, a team of 23 Red Cross staffers and volunteers monitored more than 2.5 million Sandy-related posts, tagging 4,500 for on-the-ground follow-up.
• Neighbors have always come together to help each other out. But when they come together on Twitter or Facebook, their help can sometimes echo farther and faster than it might have offline, now that fast-twitch communications networks are available on social media.

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• How Government Officials Are Using Twitter for Hurricane Sandy
• When Hurricane Irene roared up the East Coast in August 2011, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey delivered a strongly worded post on his Twitter account, @GovChrisChristie, telling people to “get the hell off the beach.” It worked. People left.
• With Hurricane Sandy, Mr. Christie used Twitter and YouTube again, as did governors, mayors and emergency management officials from North Carolina to Massachusetts, cementing Twitter’s role as an emergency broadcasting service. In the aftermath of this storm, as we report, Twitter and other social media tools are also proving vital to helping officials deliver important and timely updates.
• More than 20 million tweets were sent about the storm between Saturday and Thursday, said Rachael Horwitz, a spokeswoman for Twitter. And that is probably a conservative estimate, she noted, because it reflects only those Twitter posts that included the terms “sandy,” “hurricane,” “#sandy” and “#hurricane.”
• Perhaps one reason is that top government officials and agencies had been delivering regular warnings and updates about the storm since late last week. They used Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and even Pinterest to get the word out before and after the storm..
• Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, whose @NYGovCuomo is managed by a team of close aides, led by Liisa O’Neill, has been delivering hundreds of rapid-fire updates since late last week, becoming a must-follow for anyone looking for information about the recovery efforts. It is on this account that Twitter users learned when tunnels were closed, bridges opened, commuter rails were shutting down and then this post on Thursday that was welcome news, especially to Long Island commuters.
• Governor Cuomo’s office, along with those of several other governors, and Mayor Bloomberg routinely upload video of storm briefings onto their channels on YouTube, allowing people who may have missed updates on television or don’t have access to a television or cable because of widespread power failures across the region to watch it online. A look at Governor Cuomo’s update on Thursday.

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• Citizen Journalism Needs a Dose of Journalistic Ethics After Sandy
• When Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast, traditional news media sources found it difficult to get reporters into the areas most affected by the storm. To cover the storm, news outlets relied heavily on the power of citizen journalism, Instagram photos, and Twitter.
• During Hurricane Sandy, citizen journalism provided dangerous misinformation and fueled damaging rumors because it wasn't appropriately checked and researched.
• Journalists are entrusted with providing accurate, accountable information to the public. Reporting can make and break reputations, affect global markets, influence public policy, and decide elections. With so much power concentrated in the fourth estate, it's important that journalists follow rigid standards.
• One person's spurious claims were especially damaging when a Twitter user said the New York Stock Exchange was under three feet of water. And just like that, one irresponsible person can cause real damage to the economy on the basis of a complete falsehood. Even Piers Morgan fell for the flooding rumor.
• We've been praising the power of social media for so long without being mindful of its limitations and its harm to communication. The hype needs to stop. There are too many unaccountable monkeys with typewriters: the old guard has been saying this for years, and it's time that we as a society treat this as a moment of reckoning.
• Even though most news stories only have one or two people in a byline, numerous discussions, multiple editors, and other writers help refine stories into quality news.
• Citizen journalists lack any comparable checks on their ability to mess with the news cycle.
• A 140-character statement can go viral, get "retweeted," and be treated seriously, even though ten minutes of research would have proven the claim to be bogus.

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• Hurricane Sandy shows dark side of social media
• Social media during Sandy led some websites and news organizations to publish false information, photos

• The story of Hurricane Sandy unfolded quickly on social media: a poignant photo of soldiers standing guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, a picture of a giant wave slamming into the Statue of Liberty and a TV report that 3 feet of water flooded the New York Stock Exchange.

  None of it was true.
• Hurricane Sandy exposed a dangerous underbelly of social media: False information can go viral.
• "There were a lot of rumors going around," said Emily Rahimi, the social media strategist for the New York Fire Department, who writes and monitors its Twitter feed.
• A post that the 109-year-old building that is home to the stock exchange was flooded with water became the subject of debate Tuesday after CNN reported it.
• The National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro said the news came from several local New York City media outlets who had posted it on Twitter, though he didn't know which specifically. "We conveyed information we would have deemed credible," but he said as soon they realized the reports were false, they corrected the report

• t happened with Hurricane Sandy, too, when American Apparel sent out an e-mail blast for a 20% off sale for people living in the affected states, with a tagline that read, "In case you're bored during the storm."

  An immediate backlash followed on Twitter. "I don't care if it's 'relevant,' social media 'newsjacking' is gross and opportunistic," wrote one poster. Another wrote, "American Apparel showing how not to do it with a Hurricane Sandy sale."

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• For millions who lost power but could still access the internet on mobile devices, Twitter served as a critical lifeline throughout the disaster that struck on October 29.
• a few news operations, such as Huffington Post and the aggregator BuzzFeed saw their servers go down and turned to Twitter and other social media to deliver reports. 
• According to Twitter, people sent more than 20 million tweets about the storm from October 27 through November
• But, as can happen in the open and fast-moving environment of social media, some accounts shared by many, including mainstream news organizations, turned out to be false.
• One of the most-discussed was the claim that the New York Stock Exchange floor had flooded with three feet of water and that the power company, Con Edison, was shutting off power to all of Manhattan. The original tweets, from @ComfortablySmug, were passed along by a number of news organizations, including CNN and New York Magazine. Others on Twitter quickly debunked the rumors.
• The aggregator BuzzFeed eventually identified @ComfortablySmug as Shashank Tripathi, a hedge fund manager and campaign manager for Republican congressional candidate, Christopher R. Wight.
• “In response to thousands of retweets of erroneous Weather Channel and CNN reports that the New York Stock Exchange had been flooded with ‘three feet’ of water, Twitter users, some reporters and many not, were relentless: Photos of the outside of the building, flood-free, were posted. Knowledgeable parties weighed in.”
• As with some of the text-based tweets, though, some images turned out to have been faked. Twitter users were quick to point out the false images that had been doctored or even from previous storms. One image, of a flooded McDonalds, was actually a work of art from years earlier.
• How much of the imagery on Twitter was fake was hard to know, and that in itself became a topic of discussion. An Atlantic article explaining which photos were real and which were fake, was often shared over social media.
• This also included people urging their followers to donate to organizations that provide aid to those affected by the hurricane. Many of these tweets came from people unaffected by the storm, who weighed in with their concern.
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• Hurricane Sandy: Government Data Tools Assist

  Federal, state, and local information technology and data are on the case in the ongoing recovery from Hurricane Sandy.
• Public Alerts, built by Google's Crisis Response team, can warn users of impending disasters and also provide information on disaster recovery. Google has already integrated Public Alerts into other products -- Android's new Google Now app will display alerts directly to users' mobile devices in the case of a nearby emergency. Users will be able to learn more about the alert by clicking a "More Info" link. Public Alerts is also integrated with Google Maps to show emergency warnings in other areas, and with Google Search to show alerts when users search for information on a disaster.

• Storm Surge and Waves
  
  As is usually in the case of tropical storms, the worst damage was caused by the record storm surge that overwhelmed coastal New Jersey, New York City, and communities on the shores of Long Island and Long Island Sound. As all of you know by now, the 13.88’ tide level and 9’ storm surge at the Battery on the southern tip of Manhattan was unprecedented, which is saying a lot since the city has been recording storms and their flooding affects since the late 17th century. Jeff Masters mentioned in his blog on November 1st that the top surge and tide recorded anywhere in the storm was 9.45 feet and 14.60’ respectively at Bergen Point, New Jersey. Bergen Point is on the southern tip of Bayonne, New Jersey just north of Staten Island. Staten Island, a bureau of New York City, is now appearing to be the worst affected location by the storm.
  
  The highest waves at sea measured by buoys were 32.5’ at the New York Harbor entrance about five miles east of Sandy Hook, New Jersey and 33.1’ at a buoy off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The highest shore waves are not known since they occurred after dark, but were probably in the 10-20’ range along New Jersey’s barrier islands.
• Snowfall
  
  Not since the ‘Snow Hurricane of 1804’ (see my blog of Nov. 3, 2010) has a tropical storm ended up producing so much snow at inland communities. Even some low elevation sites reported measurable snowfall like Huntington, West Virginia (elevation 564’) with 1.4”, an all-time October record. Higher up, phenomenal snowfall was measured including 18.1” at Elkins, West Virginia (elevation 1,926’) also an all-time October record. Peak amounts by state were:

• Superstorm Sandy knocked out a quarter of the cell towers in an area spreading across 10 states, and the situation could get worse, federal regulators said Tuesday.