Twitter, Your “Get Out of Jail Free” Card

Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 by Andy Beal

Twitter, Your “Get Out of Jail Free” Card

The next time your boss asks you why you spend so much time on Twitter, there’s a new reason you can add to the normal “I’m building buzz and making connections” speech.

Twitter might just help you get out of jail.

According to the The Mercury News, a 29-year-old UC Berkeley journalism student used Twitter to alert his network he had been arrested by Egyptian police for nothing more than taking a photo. As he was being carted off to a jail–presumably without many of the rights you’d expert in the US–he managed to alert his Twitter followers.

Buck, 29, a former Oakland Tribune multimedia intern, used the ubiquitous short messaging service to tap out a single word on his cellular phone: ARRESTED. The message went out to the cell phones and computers of a wide circle of friends in the United States and to the mostly leftist, anti-government bloggers in Egypt who are the subject of his graduate journalism project.

The next day, he walked out a free man with an Egyptian attorney hired by UC Berkeley at his side and the U.S. Embassy on the phone.

Wow! How scary and how very cool at the same time?

(via)

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14 comments on “Twitter, Your “Get Out of Jail Free” Card”

Nicole Says:

April 16th, 2008 at 10:09 am

There are people I know who have been resisting joining up with twitter. This story should change their minds. What a story!

Nicole’s last blog post..Some of the Worst Commercials
Seologia Says:

April 16th, 2008 at 10:12 am

How cool is that? I twitt from my iTouch, so I guess the jail cell should have WiFi access, right?

Seologia’s last blog post..Google no es tonto, vos sí
Andy Beal Says:

April 16th, 2008 at 10:13 am

@Seologia – I’m sure it would have WiFi but I’d imagine it’s heavily secured.
Dan Thornton Says:

April 16th, 2008 at 10:15 am

Great story, and a fortunate outcome for the individual in question…

Not sure I’d always rely on social media as the sole mechanism for self preservation, but if you can reach the right people quickly and effectively it makes perfect sense.

It reminds me of projects like the Amnesty Uncensored blog widget from a couple of years ago that displayed random snippets from censored works which led to imprisonment – because enough people displaying it made the imprisonment completely pointless…

Dan Thornton’s last blog post..Don’t assume social media solutions are the only answer
Steve Teal Says:

April 16th, 2008 at 10:24 am

He is even more lucky he had the chance to even send that message and that they didn’t take any of his belonging such as his cellphoen away from him! Very scary indeed. He can say Twitter saved him. ~Steve
Jayson Says:

April 16th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

That’s amazing and twitterlicious! He is lucky that they didn’t take his belongings and more lucky that he had the opportunity to alert his network – LOL that’s a great story.
Web Marketing Man Says:

April 16th, 2008 at 12:57 pm

The power of mobile emphasized yet again! One can not ask for a more sure fire way to get an emergency message out, and coupled to triangulation with cell towers you can be quickly located….hmmm, this could also be used for more sinister apps…
Theres a Blog in my Soup : I Know Twitter can Take you Places…But get you out of Jail?! Says:

April 16th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

[...] to ( Marketing Pilgrim via Mercury News) a 29-year-old UC Berkeley journalism student got out jail using [...]
Futon-Matt Says:

April 16th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

Hmm, that’s one of the coolest things I’ve heard today. Maybe I need an account, wait I work from home
Tiffany Says:

April 16th, 2008 at 11:04 pm

That’s scary…Thanks God he could free from the jail very soon.
Piper Says:

April 17th, 2008 at 7:17 am

That’s great to hear – I guess I should build a Twitter following before I go taking pictures in some oppressive foreign land.

Piper’s last blog post..The Butterfly T-Shirt that Gives Me Butterflies
Steven Bradley Says:

April 17th, 2008 at 11:40 am

Scary and cool is right. Twitter is a good way to get information to quite a lot of people in a very short time.

Interesting that it was the first thing he thought to use to get help.

Steven Bradley’s last blog post..Last Chance To Join Teaching Sells For $1
Seologia Says:

April 18th, 2008 at 7:29 am

@ Andybeal: Never underestimate the power of the good ol’ admin/admin

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Twitter: Can We Use This As A Training Tool? | New Learning Playbook Says:

December 9th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

[...] has made headlines in some amazing news stories; breaking the news of China’s earthquake and helping a student get out of jail when he was arrested in Egypt for nothing more than taking a photo. Both of these incidents speak [...]