Twitter has proved to be a useful means of communication in the aftermath of the China earthquake. The article rather briefly describes the ways that Twitter is being used to spread news and updates in the disaster area more effectively than traditional media channels.

When Web 2.0-ish tools like Twitter come along, it’s always tempting to dismiss them each as yet another narcissistic toy—but like blogging before it, Twitter has proven its worth beyond just relaying the minutia of your friends’ everyday lives. I was sold on Twitter’s usefulness last year during the southern California fires. I had many relatives and friends living in the fire-threatened areas, and was frantically checking news sites to determine whether or not my family was in serious danger. Most mainstream news articles and maps weren’t specific enough—I didn’t need to know what cities were in danger, I needed to know which streets were in danger. I came across a Twitter feed and Google map maintained by a radio station in the area that provided almost minute-to-minute updates about where the fires were and what streets were threatened. Many of my southern California friends and family were carefully watching those feeds as the crisis played out.

No big spiritual insights here—just an observation that some of the web tools I’d otherwise dismiss as somewhat silly can actually prove unexpectedly useful. What other tools out there have you put to interesting new use, perhaps in the service of ministry?