An historic blizzard in blasting the Northeast and is shutting down air travel, affecting emergency vehicle response rates, and forcing many to stay indoors.
In classic social media style, Twitter users respond by tagging blizzard related tweets with #Snowpacalyse and #Snomageddon hashtags.
Some tweets are light-hearted:
Other tweets are serious requests for assistance:
Two Twitter Superstars, Cory Booker and 50 Cent have very different approaches to dealing with the resulting blizzard crisis.
CORY BOOKER – Public Service
Newark’s mayor, Cory Booker (@corybooker), is using Twitter as a sort of radio dispatch system to connect Newark citizens with updates on snow plow activity and to help with emergency services. With over 1 Million Twitter followers, much of the Twittersphere is seeing him in action and the media is taking notes.
Mayor Booker actually rolled up his sleeves and went out to dig people out.
50 CENT – A Lesson on Hustling
In a smaller scale shoveling endeavor, multi platinum rapper 50 Cent (@50Cent) shoveled his way out of his Connecticut home then said he intended to go into the shoveling business.
50 Cent later told his 3.7 Million Twitter followers that he was scaling up his shoveling operation and had hired 3 kids to help with door to door sales.
Whether or not 50 Cent was really charging and hiring people for his ad hoc business or just having some fun with his followers remains to be seen. But his tweet stream does provide a lesson on how to flex one’s hustle muscle.
Final Thoughts
I can personally relate to both Snowmageddon approaches. On the one hand, I’m all about public service and helping others in times of need. Cory Booker is definitely one of my role models. On the other hand, as a someone building my own consulting business, I appreciate 50 Cent’s startup hustle mentality.
I think that the snow fall and our response to it is a larger metaphor for strategies on how we’ll approach the new year. Will we work collaboratively and negotiate our way through the recession, job loss, and home price collapse or will we focus on our own personal islands?
Related Articles
* Mayor Hacks Snowmageddon With Epic Tweets- Wired Magazine
* 50 Cent Shovels Snow for Money After Northeast Blizzard – Billboard.com
Photo credits
* 50 Cent on Plixi
* @douglasingram on Twitpic
* @AgingBackwards on Twitpic
* @hijofrizbe on Twitpic