Tracing the Impact of Online Activism in the Renisha McBride Case
On November 2, 2013, 19-year-old Renisha McBride was fatally shot in the face on the porch of Detroit homeowner, Theodore Wafer. A few days after the shooting, a local protest was organized, conversations began to emerge on social media, and the story quickly got picked up by national news outlets. Here I ask, did online activism and organizing efforts, lead by writer, filmmaker, and activist dream hampton, force McBride's story into the national spotlight? I often argue that online organizing is a necessary political practice of the millennial generation (see, for example, young people involved in organizing the Jena Six protest, and the work of the Dream Defenders). But many of us wonder if our organizing efforts on social media like Facebook and Twitter actually work. I've put together a comprehensive analysis using an interactive timeline and infographic (or visual data storytelling) to illustrate that online organizing, particularly in this case, forced McBride's story into national headlines and quite possibly prompted swifter action from the prosecution to formally charge Theodore Wafer with second-degree murder on November 15, 2013.
With this analysis I want to understand, 1) how and in what ways online organizing efforts and activism played a role in forcing the McBride story into national headlines, and 2) if it is at all possible to measure the impact of online organizing involved in the McBride case.
I chose the McBride story as a case study because I care about the well-being of young Black women in the US, and because I had a virtual front seat to witness how writer, filmmaker, and activist dream hampton used Facebook and Twitter to organize the first public rally held in Detroit on November 7, 2013.
LISTEN: Tara L. Conley discusses study on WPFW 98.3 FM
The Timeline
With this timeline, I attempt to create a chronology of events that arguably led to criminal charges being filed in the death of Renisha McBride. Included on the interactive timeline are instances of online activism efforts on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, along with breaking national news stories from major media outlets (including curated stories from Storify) that followed.
The Story
Using data visualization tools, I created an infographic that tells a story about influential actors and movement-shifting processes involved with online activism efforts and breaking news coverage after McBride's death and immediately before charges were filed. Primary takeaways: Facebook reigns supreme as share king, The Huffington Post dominates as a news source and aggregator for the McBride story, and Twitter plays a quantitatively smaller role, but has a qualitatively significant impact on how the McBride story and narrative was distributed online and subsequently picked up by news sources.
How Do You Measure Impact?
I don't presume to know the definitive answer to this question; however, in this case it is possible to measure online organizing efforts that prompted the McBride story into the national spotlight. I chose to analyze a finite amount of time for a reason; thirteen days after McBride died the prosecution formally charged Theodore Wafer of second-degree murder. This relatively short timespan gave me enough material (but no too much material) to weed through news articles, SM status updates, and metrics to pull together somewhat of a cohesive story. Would there have been a formal charge made on November 15, 2013 without the groundswell of online organizing and national news coverage? Who knows. However, I do think that the grassroots organizing efforts that took place online and offline forced this story into the national spotlight. The timeline above indicates a noticeable spike in news coverage between 11/7/13 and 11/8/13, a few days after news broke about McBride's death and while the first public rally was being organized online. Also during this time, conversations about the fatal shooting began to emerge frequently on Twitter and Facebook.
But I also believe there are other key reasons why this story went viral.
1) dream hampton
The role of status (whether it be celebrity and/or social) to incite movement played a key role in why and how information about McBride's case went viral. Writer, filmmaker, and activist dream hampton has had a notable presence online over the past several years. Hampton also has a proven track record as a hip-hop journalist and community organizer. Hampton's online presence might describe both a celebrity and micro-celebrity status. As Dr. Alice Marwick notes, micro-celebrity status is an "emerging online practice" that involves strategically creating and maintaing an online persona. One might also consider hampton as having celebrity status, in the traditional and mainstream sense, since she has had fans and admirers before Twitter and Facebook became common online spaces for people to cultivate public audiences. Therefore, when dream tweets and updates her status, people tune in, including other influential folks who can type up press releases, organize on the ground protests, and produce news media content within the hour. All of these efforts, factored in with hampton's influence helped to shape what I believe to be a public (and newsworthy) display of resistance in the case of Renisha McBride.
2) Emotion
Emotion certainly played a role in why the story continued to pick up steam within the first week after McBride was fatally shot. It isn't a stretch to argue that people in this country are experiencing high levels of anxiety during an era of increasing gun violence, mass shootings, and state sanctioned racial profiling. Author Kiese Laymon illustrates this sort of anxiety best when he writes about the agony involved in (re)membering How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America. So when a story breaks about a child or young person being shot, it will likely appeal to the public's emotion and disposition towards racial politics and gun violence, because re-experiencing the fatal death of our children tends to takes a toll on our collective consciousness, even if we think we're numb to it all.
3) Transmedia Storytelling
Transmedia storytelling, or telling a story across multiple media platforms has been an adopted business model in the film industry and embraced by creative media makers for several decades, (see my book review on Convergence Culture detailing the Star Wars, The Matrix, and Harry Potter franchises). For this reason, transmedia storytelling played a key role in how McBride's story went from being a reported incident to a humanizing profile about a young 19-year-old Black woman from Detroit, Michigan. The #RenishaMcBride hashtag, created by dream hampton helped others across platforms like Twitter, YouTube (see videos located in timeline above), and Instagram to attach their own voices and life experiences to the case. Storify posts were also created (see Alyson Mier's Storify located in the timeline above) that archived personal stories and critiques about the erasure of young Black and brown lives in the US.
4) U.S. Racial Climate
A friend recently told me that the primary reason why the case got picked up nationally is because of race; that is to say, in an Obama era when obtuse pundits decry "post-racial American politics" and Stand Your Ground laws trump anti-racial profiling legislation, it is no surprise then that stories about non-Black men fatally gunning down unarmed Black teenagers become fodder for national media coverage. And while I believe the comparisons between Renisha McBride's death and Trayvon Martin's death are inaccurate, these comparisons do reflect pulsating racial tensions in the US. Admittedly, my friend's observations are incisive, but I don't believe race only played a primary role in the story getting picked up. Rather from my observations, I saw race talk as a component to the overall dynamic process involved in what I'm inarticulately calling the impactfulness of online organizing and activism.
Impactfulness
Impactfulness, or glimpses of effect, happens as a result of an elaborate nexus of mixed processes. When individuals like dream hampton and Kate Abbey-Lambertz of Huff Post Detroit do what they're supposed to do as concerned citizens and reporters, respectfully, then impactfulness can be traced. I say impactfulness, rather than impact, because when it comes to understanding connective online landscapes, movement appears like shifting blurred lines. Causation and correlation can be argued, but they aren't the primary means of analysis here. Even though I use a linear model to illustrate past events that took place after McBride's death, I also acknowledge that each event and individual (the writers, activists, and media makers) collectively moved this story towards a direction that encompasses empathy, action, and awareness. These whirlpooling processes (see Azuka Nzegwu's dope dissertation on whirlpooling as a theory of knowledge construction) might also appear like a germinating ecosystem and network wherein one organism or node grew because some other organism or node was already set in place and established (the use of mixed metaphors isn't unintentional). Though I understand fully the frustration felt by many activists and writers who would have preferred a swifter responses from the Dearborn Police department, I am proud of the work of these same activists and writers who woke up every morning with Renisha McBride on their minds and in their hearts. It was because of their efforts, regardless of lag in justice that will also tell the story of Theodore Wafer, the man now charged in the death of Renisha McBride.
Tara L. Conley is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University's Teachers College studying media as ecosystems of support. She's also the founder of MEDIA MAKE CHANGE. You can find her hovering over a dented Macbook Pro writing, tweeting, researching, and creating interactive web media. For more, visit www.taralconley.org.
Huff Post Front Page Graphic Highlights US Gun Violence Epidemic
April 22, 2013 - Friday night, The Huffington Post debuted on its front page a striking graphic representing US deaths related to gun violence since the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2013. The moving graphic illustrates nearly real-time statistics of gun deaths across the country. Many of these gun related instances appear to be concentrated on the eastern part of the country (with the exception of California and Texas). It also appears that most gun violence is situated in densely populated areas. Congress has since failed to pass an assault weapons ban.
For some perspective, according to the Huff Post graphic there have been 2,244 deaths since the Sandy Hook shooting (98 days). There have been a total of 852 civilian deaths in Iraq since January 2013 and 2,537 civilian causalities in Afghanistan from 2009-2010.
Huffington Post states it's methodology is based on "compiled news reports of gun-related homicides and accidental deaths in the U.S. since the massacre in Newtown, Conn. on the morning of Dec. 14."
This is perhaps an example of digital media journalism at its finest. The use of interactive mapping, data visualization, and infographics are becoming increasingly popular means of documenting and showing information. As gun-related violence continues to infiltrate cities and neighborhoods across this country, the use of media here seems like the most appropriate means of providing the public with necessary information while raising awareness.
A question we're most concerned with here at MEDIA MAKE CHANGE is what do we do with this visual information? Related to this question concerns, how can media, in this instance, work to inform and evoke necessary action to change the current epidemic in this country related to gun violence? What calls-to-action might we engage so this graphic doesn't simply collect virtual dust?
A good place to start would be to contact your local congress person (senator and HOR) and, as professor Sarah Jackson suggested, email the graphic directly to your representative.
Kudos to Huffington Post for using media to spread information and evoke awareness. Here's hoping we can use this online media artifact to change the course of gun violence spread across our neighborhoods offline.
Meet Andy Kopsa The Woman Behind NOLA to NYC Tumblr
Andy Kopsa is a freelance journalist who currently resides in New York City. She (yes she) is the creator of the much-talked about Tumblr From NOLA to NYC, which appeared the week after hurricane Sandy. When I came across Kopsa’s Tumblr page via Twitter I immediately wanted to reach out and get to know more about her work. Like Kopsa, I too have a connection to both NOLA and NYC. Though I never lived in NOLA, I was a volunteer during hurricane Katrina while living in Houston, Texas. Over the last several years I’ve collaborated with Katrina survivors on media and research projects. Hurricane Katrina undoubtedly changed my life and fueled my ambitions to be a better storyteller and advocate.
Having recently experienced hurricane Sandy as a resident of New York City and as an Occupy Sandy volunteer, I’ve found myself reflecting on the similarities and differences between hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. I’m beginning to think hurricanes follow me, or perhaps I follow them.
Nonetheless, I’m fascinated by the power of the human spirit to act as a healing mechanism after (un)natural disasters. I’m also incredibly drawn to the ways in which ordinary people, those directly and indirectly affected by natural disaster use social media to create what I call nurture-networks; that is, online/offline support networks cultivated in response to crisis.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Kopsa about NOLA to NYC Tumblr. In addition to discussing her project, she also told me about how disappointed she is with media outlets using images from NOLA to NYC Tumblr without permission. She also talked about being frustrated by various media outlets referring to her as a "he". Kopsa also shares with me how she feels about NOLA seven years after Katrina. In the passages below, you'll learn more about Kopsa, the woman behind the NOLA to NYC Tumblr, and about her plans to continue to support the two cities she calls home; New Orleans and New York City.
TLC: It seems like we share similar experiences having both been affected by hurricane Katrina and hurricane Sandy. What interests you most to the stories of those affected by the hurricanes?
AK: I don’t think it is hurricanes per se. For me, this project was about two of the places I have called home: New Orleans and New York City. Having a deep connection with New Orleans, and with New York it only made sense . I had to do something. I am an investigative reporter who went to photo school so these things just happen with that kind of history!
TLC: You wrote in the “About” section of NOLA to NYC that during Sandy you were in NOLA, and while thinking about your family back in NYC, you thought to create NOLA to NYC via Tumblr. What made you think to use social media like Tumblr as an outlet and as means to connect two geographically separate communities?
AK: Truthfully, because it was easy. I had a Tumblr account for another project in the works featuring women journalists from rural america who moved to the “big city” and it was simple to add another page. I know, not a very sexy answer but the truth. On the road, it is hard at times to get up and run on a blog, new website, etc. Pitching stories on the fly is difficult for me. Tumblr afforded some serious ease since I was consumed with shooting, reporting, and watching The Weather Channel.
TLC: At what point did you realize NOLA to NYC was beginning to pick up viral steam on the Internet?
AK: A friend tweeted a Salon story featuring the project. But, I do publish in a wide variety of places and know writers at Salon so I wasn’t completely surprised. It didn’t seem like a big deal initially. It is when media requests started pouring in from places like NBC Nightly News and other outlets that I was taken aback.
TLC: What insights, if any, have you gained from the NOLA to NYC project? What have you learned that perhaps you weren’t expecting to learn as a result of creating NOLA to NYC?
AK: That the media, of which I am a part, is an incredibly powerful tool. For good or for ill, you have control how you use that tool. In retrospect, I may not have used Tumblr simply because everyone and their monkey’s uncle picked up photos and used them without permission. This started as a deeply personal project, me photographing Katrina survivors, friends. I listened to their stories and went through some personal anguish reporting on and photographing the appalling lack of progress in the seven years since Katrina. NOLA was my home for a handful of years and I love that place. So when people in the media, I am talking small time blogs to national television networks, started using some of the photos without even an email, well, I was none too pleased.
As a reporter who would never dream of using someones images, writings, anything, without permission - or at least a hat tip or link - it disgusts me. People were writing things about me that weren’t true. Like I am a he , which I am not. And, one publication printed that I was a native of New Orleans and a Katrina survivor. Both not true. Nowhere in my personal history will you ever find those kinds of claims. A 5 second google search would have told you I am an Iowa native and a lady. Come to find out the “reporter” picked up my twitter feed and read her own fantasy into my tweets about NOLA to NYC. I asked that next time she write about a person, at the very least, she give a ring-a-ling or drop an email. Off soapbox.
I should mention that I didn’t learn that New Orleanians are incredibly passionate, resilient and down to earth people, that Katrina survivors are bad ass, love their city and will give back until it hurts. I didn’t learn that from this project only because I already knew that.
TLC: Some may argue that NOLA to NYC is just another Internet meme that may lose people’s interest when the next meme comes along. Do you think NOLA to NYC is ‘just another Internet meme’? How do you keep the conversations going even after people lose interest in hurricane narratives?
AK: People are already losing interest. But, that doesn’t really matter. I wasn’t launching the site to springboard a career. I will go about my business. I won a grant from USC Annenberg (Knight Grant on Reporting in Religion and Public Life) to investigate religion and sex education in Mississippi so I need to get back to that. The only conversation I want to continue is the one about seven years later: NOLA is still hobbled. The lower ninth ward is still decimated. The lakefront still bears the scars of Katrina. Half the population is gone. Graft is still a king of New Orleans. We need to look at New Orleans as prologue to the long road back we have here in the wake of Sandy. There are tons of lessons to be learned from how Katrina was handled. We need to be mindful that although the administrations have changed, many of the mechanisms for disaster recovery have not. Private contractors promising victims a brighter tomorrow when what they really are up to is testing out new building materials or upcharging FEMA and the feds. I know, sounds bleak, but this is one of those teachable moments.
TLC: Do you have any plans to expand the outreach of NOLA to NYC offline or to other online spaces? If so, are there ways that other people can continue to support your efforts?
AK: I just made the decision to start selling prints of the original 12 portraits I shot. I will be donating a portion of the profits, if any, to the Ali Forney Center in New York City. A drop in shelter for LGBTQ teens. The center was destroyed in the wake of Sandy. A lot of my reporting in the past dealt with issues of LGBTQ rights and I've donated clothing and other items to the center before. It seems a natural and right fit.
I am also going to Mastic Beach this weekend to take NOLA to NYC care packages to the people hit hard in that area of Long Island. This was brought to my attention by the head of a pop-up charity group called New Orleans Gives Back. The group will be bringing a truck full of useful cleanup and support supplies to Mastic this weekend. The founder of the group asked if I wanted to be a part of it. Of course I did, so I am making little prints and bringing some of the words of love and wisdom from the NOLA to New York project to Mastic. It is a small gesture, but hopefully hearing from people who have been through it will bring a brief moment of comfort.
Many thanks to Andy Kopsa for taking the time to chat with MEDIA MAKE CHANGE.
To purchase prints from the NOLA to NYC project, please visit: http://andykopsa.photoshelter.com
Photos courtesy of Andy Kopsa
Meet MMC's New Youth Correspondent! Zoe Zvosechz
More teens and kids around the world are on the Internet, so why not start there? - Zoë
We're so excited to introduce you to Zoë Zvosechz (pronounced ZO-ee ZA-vose-ICK), MEDIA MAKE CHANGE's brand new youth correspondent!
Zoë, 14-years-old, was born in Germany from a U.S. military family currently living in El Paso, Texas. She loves soccer, writing, and JUSTIN BIEBER! Zoë also enjoys hanging out with her friends. She describes herself as "often online and posting things on my [Facebook] page, ImmaTeen, and talking to the admins." Zoë enjoys being around family and friends, and aspires to work with young people in need of support.
We recently came across Zoë's Facebook page, ImmaTeen, which brings together young people from all around the country to speak out against bullying. ImmaTeen has garnered over 11,000 likes on Facebook and continues to grow in popularity among teens around the country.
Zoë has also produced (yes, produced!) an anti-bullying digital video, Stop the Tears and End the Fears, which features teens holding up signs that reads "victim" as a way to respond to being bullied in and out of school.
Zoë's work is a prime example of how young people are using social and digital media to transgress conformity and transform communities from the inside-out. It was only natural for us to reach out and ask Zoë if she'd like to be MMC's official youth correspondent. She happily accepted, and we're so delighted to feature her voice, insights, and super cool name on Media Speaks!
We recently had a chance to chat with Zoë about her work and about what she hopes to bring to MMC's community. Check out what she had to say below!
First of all, you are a superstar! We're so excited about the work you're doing using social and digital media. You are the co-creator of ImmaTeen, a Facebook group with over 11K "Likes" that offers teens an alternative space to express themselves and also supports young people who have been victims of online and offline bullying. Can you tell us a little bit about how ImmaTeen came about?
Zoë: When I created ImmaTeen, it was just for fun. Many people were just making pages like ImmaTeen, and these pages were getting so many likes. So I thought, "Why not give it a try?" So I did! I added admins to the page to help me get it up and running, and they're all still on the site. One of the admins was seriously bullied so I went on YouTube to watch videos about young teens being bullied. After watching the bullying videos, I wanted to use the likes on ImmaTeen for good use. I wanted to bring bullying awareness to everybody! I posted my video that I have linked on YouTube to ImmaTeen. Those featured in the video are all fans of the page, and they all have been victimized in some way.
How on earth did you manage to cultivate an online community of over 11K teens on Facebook? That's amazing!
Zoë: My friends and "admins" of the site helped me gain Likes on Facebook! The admins are still part of the Facebook page today. I shared the page around Facebook and asked friends to like and to join the conversation.
What do you hope to accomplish with ImmaTeen? Are you using other social networks to expand ImmaTeen's influence?
Zoë: I hope to spread awareness about bullying and just bring a smile to young people's faces. I want to start a program at my school to address bullying, and to continue to just help young people smile. I'm using my Twitter (@ImmaTeenQuotes) and Tumblr accounts to help spread the word about ImmaTeen.
MMC recently featured a piece, "To Live and Die in Social Media" about the Amanda Todd and Felicia Garcia suicide tragedies, what did you think about these tragedies? Is there anything we can learn from them?
Zoë: I almost cried because of what they went through. To kill yourself over bullying? It really hurts. Really bad. We need to stay strong and not give up. Even if Amanda Todd and Felicia Garcia may have given up, we shouldn't.
What can adults and educators do to support and better engage young people who use social and digital media?
Zoë: Adults should have more school assemblies about bullying and start support groups on the Internet. More teens and kids around the world are on the Internet, so why not start there?
What are some ways young people can be proactive in addressing issues confronting youth?
Zoë: We can talk to each other about how we feel. Young people should have a say in what we are confronted with. Take the election for example, we have a say in the political process even though we can't vote. We still can have an opinion and share it with other people our own age.
We're so excited to have you on board as our official youth correspondent and contributing writer! As MMC's new youth correspondent, what topics would you like to explore, write about, and report on?
Zoë: I'm excited too! I'd like to write about current issues that are bothering young people like bullying, self-improvement, and just trying to fit in. Thanks for having me on board!
You can follow Zoë on Twitter @SnowieZoe - and we *so* recommend that you do!
Related:
Post-Hurricane Sandy Online Resources
A parking lot full of yellow cabs is flooded as a result of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 in Hoboken, NJ. (via Facebook)
Back in 2005, after hurricane Katrina shattered the Gulf Coast, I began monitoring several online networks created and cultivated by what I called women virtual volunteers. Though Twitter and Facebook weren't around back then, women were created blogs, list servs, and newsgroups in efforts to provide relief support for victims and survivors of hurricane Katrina. This was the first time I witnessed people gathering across time and space to pull their resources online after a natural disaster. It's important to note that at the time, the nurture-networks I looked at were also created in response to lack of support from the federal government, namely FEMA.
Seven years after hurricane Katrina, the country has yet again been devastated by a natural disaster in the form of hurricane Sandy. People along the east coast, and parts of the midwest, are currently assessing widespread damage as a result of a massive storm surge lasting several hours.
As we saw during hurricane Katrina, people have taken to social media to help spread the word about damage and to provide resources for victims and survivors of the storm. However, unlike what we saw during Katrina; that is, when social media looked more like Yahoo! news groups and comments sections of blog posts, those directly and indirectly affected by Sandy have taken to popular social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and even Storify to provide the nation with up-to-date information and online resources. And it's not only traditional journalists and reporters creating these spaces, but also everyday citizens with a cell phone and a wifi connection.
In my continuing efforts to monitor online networks post-Sandy, I've put together a (growing) list of resources that I hope folks will find useful as we begin the arduous process of cleaning up after Sandy. If you have more resources to share, please do so below in the comments section. You may also tweet us @mediamakechange
IMAGES AND STORIES FROM THE STORM
ABC 7 Storify Hurricane Sandy: http://storify.com/EyewitnessNews/hurricane-sandy-1
Storify Users Cover #Sandy: http://storify.com/storify/storify-users-cover-sandy
AcuWeather: Sandy Floods New York City: http://storify.com/breakingweather/photos-sandy-floods-new-york-city-new-jersey
Hurricane Sandy Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hurricane-Sandy/506493399380778?fref=ts
ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT
- Red Cross Hurricane app : http://www.redcross.org/mobile-apps/hurricane-app
- List of currently open Red Cross shelters at: http://www.redcross.org/nss/
- Visit the Red Cross web site: http://www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
- People should also register on the Red Cross Safe and Well website, a secure and easy-to-use online tool that helps families connect during emergencies: http://www.redcross.org/find-help/contact-family/register-safe-listing
@NotifyNYC on Twitter
- People located in NYC can ‘follow NotifyNYC’ on Twitter, and text 40404 to get @NotifyNYC (http://www.twitter.com/notifyNYC) tweets as text messages.
- Google Crisis map that has good information about Hurricane Sandy as well as shelter information: http://google.org/crisismap/sandy-2012
- A secure, user-friendly web portal that consolidates information about federally funded government assistance to disaster victims, including the ability to apply for FEMA benefits directly online: http://www.disasterassistance.gov
State Offices of Emergency Management
- A list of the emergency management offices in all 50 states plus territories: http://www.fema.gov/regional-operations/state-offices-and-agencies-emergency-management
- The Disaster Distress Helpline (DDH) is the first national hotline dedicated to providing year-round disaster crisis counseling. If you or someone you know has been affected by a disaster and needs immediate assistance, please call this multilingual, crisis support service (available 24/7) at (1-800-985-5990) and SMS (text `TalkWithUs' to 66746). Residents in the U.S. and its territories who are experiencing emotional distress related to natural or man-made disasters: http://disasterdistress.samhsa.gov/ toll-free number for information, support, and counseling. You will be connected to the nearest crisis center.
- Also see The Salvation Army's blog with up-to-date information on hurricane Sandy. http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf
- You can email nycservice@cityhall.nyc.gov for more information on how to volunteer in your area. http://www.nycservice.org
- Be sure to visit their website BEFORE going to donate blood. Not all centers are open because damage due to the storm. We recommend that you call 1-800-933-2566 or visit www.nybloodcenter.org for donor center hours and the latest information. Thank you for your support. http://www.nybc.org/press-release.do?sid0=60&page_id=152&content-id=785
- Delivers medicines, medical supplies and aid to people in crisis around the world. http://www.americares.org/
- Provides medical assistance to people affected by disaster. http://www.directrelief.org/
Sources: Facebook, CraigConnects, Huffington Post
Related Stories: Hurricane Sandy: Red Cross, Other Relief Organizations See Social Media as 'Double-Edged Sword' For Relief Efforts