What are the potential benefits of Twitter and other social media for emergency and disaster communi

Although emergency and disaster communications have developed through the years based on existing technologies (such as an air horn for a tornado watch, or the Federal Emergency Alert System [EAS] through television and radio), new technologies such as Twitter and social media offer potential benefits for these communications. For example, social media enable emergency and disaster communications to originate from multiple locations at the same time (while an air horn or a news reporter operates from only one location at a time). Social media also enable emergency and disaster communications to be constantly updated in real-time.