Was checking my mail earlier morning when this headline from CNN caught my attention: “Freed man now uses Twitter to help friend“. Here’s a short summary and some excerpts from the article that I read from CNN.
James Karl Buck
James Karl Buck, an American student working on a photography project in Egypt for his master’s thesis was arrested together with his interpreter while taking photographs of local anti-government protests over low wages and rising food prices. He was able to get out of jail with the help of Twitter*.
James Karl Buck was released from a Mahalla jail after sending a one-word blog post from his cell phone through the Twitter Web site. The message — “Arrested” — alerted all of his friends on the site of his detention.
When his college found out about the situation, they hired a lawyer who then got him out of prison. Now that he’s a free man, Buck is using his Twitter network (611 followers as of writing) to help free his friend Mohammed Maree.
Mohammed Maree
“He’s only in prison … because he wanted to help me,” Buck said. “Now I’ve got to repay the favor.”
Mohammed Maree was an Egyptian veterinary student who offered to be his interpreter and help him with his project. Maree is still being detained in prison as of this moment.
CNN’s full story here
‘m currently following Jam
If you’d like to get updates regarding this story and/or join in helping free Mohammed Maree from jail, you can follow James Buck on Twitter – http://twitter.com/jamesbuck or on his personal blog Journalism is Not a Crime.
*Twitter is a social-networking blog site that allows users to send status updates, or “tweets,” from cell phones, instant messaging services and Facebook in less than 140 characters.
*photos taken from CNN.com
wow thats incredible, being british this wasn’t even in our news but i wish it had been. Another reason to love twitter lol x
with twitter, you can earn money PLUS! you can save a friend hehehe. That was a great story. Thanks for the post.
@vanjohn – You mean ask the readers via poll? I can do that but not right now. But if you ask me, both are useful. In my case, I use Twitter to network with other bloggers and promote my blog. Everytime I publish a new post, it gets published by TwitterFeed as a tweet and becomes my status on Twitter. So everyone who follows me on Twitter sees it. As for Plurk, most of my Filipino online friends and bloggers are there so its like a place to hang out and chat. :D
hmmm. I never knew much about Twitter until now, when I just checked it, Jaypee, favor… try asking the viewers, which is more prefferable: Twitter, or Plurk :D
@Hussein – Kahit matagal na yon comment basta hindi ko pa nasagot, nagrereply ako. Was pretty busy with personal stuff and had problems with my laptop. :)
Hala. Tagal na nung comment ko ah. Where have you been? :D
@Noreen – Yes it is. Glad you liked that story. Yeah, its been a while but thanks for dropping by and for informing me about your new URL. Take care & have a nice day! :)
wow that’s really interesting!!!!!
btw, tagal ako di nakadalaw sa blog mo…lumipat na naman ako ng url hehehe TC!
@Laarni – I’m sure there’s also an interesting story involving Plurk but just not as unique and interesting as this. Or maybe, it hasn’t happened yet. :D
Interesting! I wish there is a Plurk story like this din. harhar.
@Mahalia – I know, times change fast and the advancement of technology is very rapid. Who would’ve even imagined something like this happening and how Twitter got a person out of jail. Thanks for sharing. :)
Fifteen years ago, this would not be possible. My how times change. Good for him he brought his cellfone along. If it were in the days of our lolas, it would have taken years before any word of his arrest. And a few more years for a lawyer to post bond. :wink:
@Jehzeel – Haha..that’s right. I guess some already did transfer to Plurk but still kept their Twitter accounts open. :)
good thing his twitter followers did not transfer to plurkkkkk :grin:
@Modest – Too bad you didn’t get popular but at least nothing bad happened during your trip and you’re safe. ;)
I was just in Mexico and kept telling myself that if I ever got arrested I would do the same thing and become popular in the internet world. But I was all safe and nothing happened.
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@pepPeR – His friend Mohammed Maree was released about 2 months after this story was released. Thanks for the compliment and for dropping by. :D
It’s good thing that there are still some people who would take such kind of risk in order to expose some things that the world should also know. I hope that he would be able to help his friend as well to get out from prison. Nice blog.
@Hussein – Yeah, napabayaan ko kasi sobrang busy tapos nasira pa yon laptop ko. Pero eto, I’m back to blogging. Anyways, maraming salamat sa suporta. :)
Oops. Long time no update ah.. :(
@bluepanjeet – Yeah, that’s true and like what Ade mentioned, its good Twitter wasn’t down when it happened.
(Regarding the PBA this year, my blog isn’t one of the finalists and I don’t even know if it was nominated. Thanks anyways for your support.)
Wow, what an incredible story! And to think that I’ve thumbed my nose at Twitter.
good thing his twitter is wired to his mobile… proof that today’s technology is powerful as ever
happy weekend bro!
(PS just checking out your PBA nomination, have no news about it, keep me posted if you need power vote… im behind you!) :wink:
@Ucilelek – What is complicated? The story or how to use Twitter like he did?
:roll: so complicated….
@narendra – Yes, very interesting indeed. :D
that really interesting with the use of Twitter :wink:
@Jan – Thanks for the info. :)
WordPress 2.6 will be available this July, check out my blog.
@Manila Freelancer – I’m sure the world would be totally different if the Internet wasn’t invented. A lot of our technology and lifestyle were created because of the Internet. :)
I cant imagine the world without internet….
@homebuddy – It helps to be tech or Internet savvy. Yeah, good thing Twitter wasn’t down and its good that the police didn’t confiscate his cellphone so he was able to use it.
@Web Tools – That’s true. This story is not only about Twitter but the power of blogging. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. :)
a way to go to get out of jail. Buti nga talaga Twitter was functioning well that time!
This shows the power of blogging. Individual voices are heard.
@Pinoy Lotto – Yes it is and this is one good example of it. :)
useful pala ang twitter :grin:
@Destination – Yep, his friend was also released about a month later after this story came out.
Good for him. I only hope that his friend will be able to be released as well. It is so lame that we have to be scared of places arresting you for no reason. Especially just taking a picture. I like how new technologies like Twitter are able to help people out like that.
@Kevin – This story was on CNN so most likely they know about it. :)
@Hussein – That’s a good idea. Maybe you can make a post about that on your blog? The only problem I see is that many Filipinos are not that tech savvy to use Twitter. Thanks for sharing though! :)
The Twitter team should know this story, really.
Every Filipino must now introduced to twitter. Kidnapping is very popular nowadays here. :evil:
@Miss Dre – Yeah it is and I wonder what other unique/creative ways Twitter, Plurk or Pownce, etc can be used for. :)
Wow, Twitter is quite useful :)
@littlelight – I think the time spent is not really the issue but on how kids use it. I guess its okay to spend a lot of time in the Internet as long as they use it to actually learn something educational or something that can help them, including Twitter. :D
parents who tell their children not to spend too much time online should read this. :grin:
@bodydetox – Most certainly is!
:razz: thats a nice way to get out of jail
@Joni – Twitter picked a good time not to go down coz this story is definitely good publicity for them. :)
And good thing the twitter pagination wasn't temporarily disabled. LOL @Ade.
@Ade – I know. I wonder what would’ve happened if Twitter was down and he wasn’t able to use it? :???:
Good thing Twitter wasn’t down when it happened.