Twitter goes into overdrive with travellers’ updates

WHEN Icelandic volanco Eyjafjallajökull began spewing its detritus into European airpace last Thursday, the virtual world exploded into a spontaneous hub of activity.

Twitter has come into its own, proving invaluable an information highway, intelligence database and agony aunt all rolled into one.

It is helping people get home, lending a sympathetic ear to stranded travellers, sharing highly technical aviation data and providing a real-time notice board with second-by-second updates on the volcano and its victims.

This is word-of-mouth in the 21st century – and with reliable sources to back it all up.

Shortly after the news broke last Thursday, some clever tweeter initiated the #ashtag.

For those of you not familiar with Twitter-land, when a group discusses the same subject, they name it, and add the hash tag symbol.

“Hash-tagging” a conversation essentially keeps it linked, and allows everyone to access it easily, view it or join in.

For example, this week popular topics are #getmehome, and #ashcloud.

The #ashtag conversation is one of the top trending topics on Twitter globally, with travellers, loved ones, voyeurs and media checking it to monitor how the situation is unfolding.

“Ash Alerts” gives constant updates on all news associated with the volcano, via Twitter, as does the usually secretive agency Eurocontrol.

Eurocontrol is responsible for the coordination of European airspace and now has its own Twitter account, providing maps and regular updates on the ash cloud’s progress.

Yesterday it informed Twitter that 20,000 of 28,000 usual flights had been cancelled across Europe.

Heathrow Airport issued an apology to all its customers via Twitter, and thousands of stranded passengers are using it to plot a course home, and recording their efforts on the site.

But it’s not all serious stuff, or doom and gloom – Twitter can be used to organise a bit of craic amid the chaos too.

One Tweeter said he was thinking of organising a massive “#getmehome #ashtag flashmob”. “Meet you on the deck of the Ark Royal for group singalong of We Are Sailing,” he said.

Another cheeky tweeter has gone to the trouble of setting up an account for the volcanic ash cloud itself.

“The Ash Cloud” has more than 2,500 followers, and yesterday announced it was “not going anywhere soon”.