Twittering out of prison
Twitter played a vital offline role this week, when a journalism student used that web 2.0 service to help get out of an Egyptian jail. It's a rather dramatic example of the way people use Twitter to keep in touch with people they know:
Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Mahalla, Egypt, covering an anti-government protest when he and his translator Mohammed Maree were arrested April 10.
On his way to the police station, Buck took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging site Twitter.
The message only had one word. "Arrested."
Within seconds, colleagues in the United States and his blogger-friends in Egypt -- the same ones who had taught him the tool only a week earlier -- were alerted he was being held.
(emphasis added)
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