Hurricane Sandy: the cause of a death toll of over one hundred and the source of complications and financial damages all over the northeastern region. It had and still has around-the-clock coverage by new channels, and it even affected Princeton directly. Given the sheer prominence of this storm, let’s take a look into the role of social networks during and after the disaster.

Before and during the storm, social networks were used to update people with hurricane news. People posted statuses about hurricane readiness, and several of my friends inquired about possible travel plans to avoid the storm. During the storm, some Facebook groups served as a personal news outlet on the status of houses in certain communities, allowing people to remain updated. Just the number of people talking about Hurricane Sandy on social networks would make it obvious that social networks were affiliated with the storm. Afterwards, Facebook was quickly used to organize volunteer support to aid victims. Even Princeton had its own Facebook group for disaster relief (Sandy Relief). Donations have been solicited by groups, and attention has been drawn toward various ways to contribute.

Of course, though, Facebook isn’t perfect. First of all, a tagging option would increase attention to major topics of discussion. Currently, it’s not possible to easily tag things that haven’t been previously “liked.” Twitter and Instagram have developed convenient tagging options that clearly show what is trending in the news, and streamlined Facebook tagging would allow people to find disaster relief possibilities with trending #sandyrelief tags. Also, many of the Facebook pages concerning Hurricane Sandy are unofficial and simply for people to hoard likes. A quick search for “hurricane sandy” results in hundreds of Facebook pages, groups, and events. Even pages dedicated to relief are numerous, disorganized, and unofficial. Several of the top search results are clearly in a state of inaction or in no situation to coordinate relief efforts.

Thus, Facebook has possibilities to expand in terms of aiding social welfare. It could provide an “official” status for pages that actually coordinates volunteer support, or it could work faster to target and delete the pages that are simply fishing for likes. It could take a look into direct donations from its website toward major disaster relief efforts, and it could also provide free advertising for the Red Cross and similar organizations during times of stress. This would improve its image and offer real help toward rebuilding communities in tatters. Obviously, the possibility of this happening is extremely low, as this would thrust Facebook into a larger role in social related issues and could serve as a precedent for other parties demanding support for a range of concerns. Still, this is an opportunity for Facebook to play a larger role in the community.