On Thursday, March 25th, my 3yo daughter, Isabelle took a ride on the outside of the escalator and my friend, along with a custodian at the mall, yanked her to safety near the top of the escalator (the height of the escalator was about 15 feet). In the process, Isabelle hurt her mouth and jaw.
I took one look at her and knew we had to go to get X-rays because I was pretty sure her jaw was broken. At the time, I was unaware of the implications of a broken jaw. Our first stop was Patient First, where an X-ray was administered. While it wasn’t clear that a break had occurred it was enough to prompt a call for an ambulance. We rode, back and neck immobilization braces and all, to Johns Hopkins Hospital’s pediatric ER.
Once at the ER, Isabelle was given a CAT scan, which revealed not only a broken lower right jaw, but also a dislocation. We were admitted and told that the surgeon would visit us in the morning. While we awaited the go-ahead for admission and the hour of midnight approached, I hooked up my computer, juiced my phone and used social media to alert my friends to Isabelle’s perils and situation. I’d also sent out some texts and made phone calls earlier in the night. While Isabelle FINALLY slept, I found comfort in the comments and conversations of my friends on Facebook and Twitter in the post midnight hours.
And from there, almost without thinking, I chose to use Facebook as my means to communicate the goings on of our brief hospital stay. I used my status updates to fill in friends and family about when her surgery would take place and when the Doctor, appeared, just one hour after we left Isabelle’s side in the OR , to proclaim that he was able to set her jaw and fix the dislocation without making the expected incision and without having to wire her jaw shut, I rejoiced, and shouted it out to all my Facebook and Twitter friends.
In return, I found an outpouring of support, and received numerous offers of help. Upon our return home with strict instructions from the Doctor to keep her on a liquid diet and restrict her movement, I have found Twitter and Facebook to be a great outlet for my stress, and again, a great resource for comfort and support.
Armed with only my Droid, for the most part, I was able to inform and update every single friend and family member about Isabelle’s predicaments. They got photographs of her injury, cat scan, and recovery. They were able to communicate with me directly, and yet in a non-invasive way. Their emails, posts, tweets, and texts could be read and responded to at my convenience.
Only seldom did I pick up the phone and have a conversation and for the most part is was a challenge to do so. The texts, posts, emails, tweets, and messages were far easier to manage and maintain.
My communication has changed significantly in the last 24 months and will continue to shift. More and more, I rely on the apps on my phone as opposed to the phone itself. The ease of disseminating information on social networks lends itself naturally to communicating with a broad group of people.
The same can be said for businesses. Using Facebook and Twitter to dispense information to your customers and clients is fast, easy and effective. If my personal page had been a fan page, the insights column would have been blowing up. The information I was posting was timely and of interest to my friends and they therefore responded to it. That same concept translates for businesses. Having a fan page and a twitter address is only half of the package. You must use it to converse with your fans and followers.
