CNN is reporting that James Karl Buck, a graduate student from University of California-Berkeley was arrested while on the outskirts of a riot related to the rising food prices in Egypt when he was taken into custody by the Egyptian authorities.
Thinking fast, James, who had only become familiar with Twitter the previous week, twittered “Arrested” to his network. He figured, he said, that at least his network would have some idea of what happened to him and would make it less likely that he would simply disappear.
The power of this network was demonstrated by the fact that less than 24 hours later a subsequent one-word tweet informed his friends of his new status: “Freedom”.
His friend and interpreter, Mohammed Maree, was not so fortunate and as of this date his friends and family as well as a determined Mr. Buck have been unable to determine his whereabouts.
As the world gets smaller, the power of these networks increases every day. If this isn’t evidence of that I don’t know what it.
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