Social media comes in handy at time of distress

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 22

At times when people were looking for their loved ones, social media played a major role in helping people find each other, help each other.

Residents kept on sharing information of missing people in various groups by using social media platforms. A 10-month old, Vishal, was reunited with his mother Radha, after his images surfaced on internet. The authorities took cognisance and united child with his mother.

“Social media has played both negative and positive role this time. People had been spreading rumours and helping the needy at the same time,” said Seenu Arora, president, non-government organisation, Voice of Amritsar. A lot of information was being shared through their official facebook page.

Many residents had formed special groups, circulated messages to reach the needy.

“I kept sharing the helpline numbers, names of volunteers. I made a group of friends on WhatsApp to decide our future line of action,” added Shewta, a student.

Some of the residents were totally depended on social media for their source of information. Sandeep Kumar, teaching faculty, DAV College, said, “The mobile application WhatsApp helped us with list of blood donors. I was watching all facebook live conducted by media houses. But I will say that one has to verify the information. All things in this media cannot be trusted.”