Following the Mumbai crisis online

The attacks in Mumbai were a major story not just for mainstream media but also for online communities around the world. Social networks became a hive of activity. Some were sending out descriptions of the scene on the ground, others were desperately trying to contact friends and loved ones.

Here, three internet users speak about their online experience during the Mumbai crisis.

PETER GRIFFIN, JOURNALIST AND BLOGGER, MUMBAI, INDIA

Peter Griffin lives in Mumbai

Peter Griffin is a journalist, blogger and part of a global network of people who try their best to organise aid, provide support and help those affected in a crisis.

I've been involved with a number of online collaborative groups since the time of the Asian tsunami. We've used the same model on several other disasters including the the monsoons that hit Mumbai some years ago, Hurricane Katrina, the earthquakes in Pakistan and China and the floods in Burma.

The Mumbai blog was started during the floods . We revived it around the time of the train blasts and again for the latest attacks.

It worked in a slightly different way this time. We started it up again and put up some posts about what was going on and links to what people were saying. We tried to make it easier for people who were not bloggers to help others. We opened a thread and put the names and numbers of people they were trying to reach. As you can imagine the city phone lines were very busy and it was very difficult to get through, especially on the first night.

EXPLAINER Social media:Websites that are made up of or make use of user generated content. Examples include wikis, forums, social networking sites and blogs. Twitter: A social micro-blogging website that allows users to update short messages of 140 characters online or via a mobile phone. Tweeting: Updating Twitter with comments or URL links. Posts: Additions to a blog such as written articles or pictures. Threads: Themes of conversation that run through social media. Flickr: A user generated photo and image website.

Mainstream media didn't seem sure about the way things were and did not want to reveal everything. The armed forces and police were not talking. Meanwhile, there were a lot of worried people, friends and family trying to reach each other. The blog tried in small ways to help people to do that.

One of the first calls we had was from the United States asking about the rabbi who was one of the first victims [from the Jewish Chabad Lubavitch centre]. Friends from his organisation were trying to reach him. Plenty of other calls came in like that, some from people who were eventually able to find who they were looking for and others who were not so lucky.

KAMLA BHATT, BLOGGER, SILICON VALLEY, USA

Kamla Bhatt has a podcast online

Kamla Bhatt has a radio show online and is a keen blogger and user of Twitter. She describes what it was like as a regular netizen from India, now living in Silicon Valley and her decision to distance her broadcasting online.

The minute I saw what was happening, I fired up my Twitter account and turned on my TV.

For 48 hours I watched everything unfold as though I was sitting in front of a TV in India. I have no words because my heart just broke when I saw what was happening.

What was different about this event was the that the Twitter streams I was following helped me understand what was happening on the ground because there were a bunch of people actually outside the hotels and they were sending pictures and reporting what they were seeing.

Folks on Twitter had the information way ahead of time

I did get involved online. I started tweeting on the first day and I wrote a blog round up of what was happening. Then I realised, being so far away, I was not able to gather all the information. The next day I stuck to watching my Twitter feed and responded if people had any questions.

I think people are increasingly going to turn to non-traditional media. People will get their information from email, Twitter and blogs. I think what happened in Mumbai highlights how mainstream media outlets were lagging behind with reporting information. Folks on Twitter had the information way ahead of time. Even before the Mumbai blast, the election of president Obama clearly showed how technology has come to play a stronger role.

GAURAV MISHRA, TECHNOLOGY EXPERT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, USA

Gaurav Mishra of Georgetown University

Gaurav Mishra is the Yahoo fellow in communications technology and intermational values at Georgetown University - he primarily does research on developing countries.

The first time that social media was widely used like this in India was a few years back when the tsunami happened. That was pretty much the first time that blogs and social media became prominent in crisis reporting. At that time of course there was no Twitter.

People used a very innovative way to track news then. Witnesses on the ground sent text messages to people with access to computers, who in turn complied these messages on blog posts. Since then, Twitter has grown and there has been more access to social media tools.

But I was taken aback by the amount of social media coming out of Mumbai because most people in India don't have access to computers or high end phones. Therefore it is surprising to see so much engagement in social media.

Twitter posts were varied. There were links to mainstream media and first-hand accounts

The terror attacks stated on late evening on the 26 November Indian time. Almost immediately Indian TV channels started following events and create video feeds online. At the same time a photographer went out, took photographs and posted them on Flickr. Many people in Mumbai started tweeting about what was happening but western media had not yet managed to pay attention.

Very quickly the volume of comments on Twitter became too much to handle. Twitter posts were varied. There were links to mainstream media and first-hand accounts, such as: "I heard a second blast" or "My friend is at the Taj". People were also using Twitter to find out what was happening to friends and family. And people in Mumbai were trying to share helpline numbers and pass on messages because the phone system was intermittently down.

One problem with this sort of media is the volume. The second is the noise and whether or not information is correct. There was some misinformation, with people quoting rumours. But the nice thing was that there were people continuously asking where that information was coming from assessing whether it was correct or not.