Is it just me, or has social media been pretty heavy lately? The relentless Chic-fil-A debate on Twitter, Facebook, and everywhere is just one facet. The Olympics are in fever pitch, with all kinds of stories spinning out of the competition – some great, some fun, and many pretty intense. It’s election season in the USA, cable TV is constantly counting the days left until Voting Day in November. Tech news has even been intense lately, with all the coverage of Zuckerberg heating up (once again).
It just feels like between the August weather and the intensity of the social web right now – it’s getting a little hot in here. We need a nice cool breeze, right?
I have one for you! A fun and happy story, with a couple weird twists, of some kind geeks who came to rescue one of their own.
When New York Times tech writer David Pogue lost his iPhone on a train, he did what any good social media user would do - he posted about it! And like any good tech expert, he also had some clever and helpful apps in place to help out in just this circumstance.
David Pogue, tech writer
Using the Find My iPhone app, he was able to trace the location of his phone. This wasn’t flawless though. At first the phone was turned off, and thus couldn’t be located. Once it was put back on, it honed in a town in Maryland. The blogs covering the story miscalculated the exact location at first. Once the very home in which David’s phone resided was located, satellite mapping images were splattered across the web and local law enforcement for that town was looped in.
Where the phone was actually found - this image is now going viral.
Eventually a cop knocked on the door and was able to get the phone back!
This wacky story demonstrates the power of social media. #Hashtags were being used to orchestrate the effort on Twitter, a plethora of technology all came together to enable those on the hunt for the phone.
In the end, everything worked out! And now Mr. Pogue will have quite the story to tell for years to come.
To read Gizmodo’s coverage of the ordeal, with all 18 of its updates, check out this link. Blogging in the New York Times, Pogue also told his story in his own words, which you can read here
In Pogue’s own words from his version of the tale:
“What an unbelievable story. What a mind-blowing ride. It’s a story of social media and the Web, teaming up with law enforcement, following a tip from the Find My iPhone feature — to reclaim my lost phone five hours after I tweeted about it.”
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