Social Media

The Good (Internet) Samaritan

posted by McKenna @ January 12th, 2009

A recent Tweet from a frustrated mother whose 3-year-old wouldn’t sleep got me thinking: How does the Good Samaritan concept apply to the Internet?

This particular Tweeter, who goes by the name Thordora, got the cops called on her. Fortunately, there wasn’t much of a story beyond her Tweet – her daughter was safe and sound in her bed. But the story has sparked renewed interest in other stories like it, especially the sad tale of Abraham Briggs.

This brings up the question of anonymity, right to privacy and all that fun stuff when using the Web. But for many people, those concepts are hoity-toity ideas that have no bearing when a child’s (or anyone’s) life might be on the line.

A lot of people – especially mothers – have taken Thordora to task for writing that Tweet. One blogger on ParentDish said “she got what as coming to her.” She continues:

“There is such a thing as social responsibility over the Internet. People use the web to create a community. As with a real community, those in a virtual simulation care for and are concerned about all the members, even if they’ve never met. They’re also just as vigilant about protecting that community.”

So when do we use social media for the social good? Is that even important? If you had read this Tweet from Thordora, what would you have done?

Related tags: buzz • Social Media • social responsibility • Twitter

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