What Joel Osteen learned about social media from Hurricane Harvey

Thank heaven for social media.

That sentiment was definitely on the minds of many people caught in the path of Hurricane Harvey, which is shaping up to be one of the worst disasters in U.S. history. It dumped 24.5 trillion gallons of water on Texas — enough to cover the entire state of Arizona in a foot of water. More than 32,000 people were displaced and forced to go to shelters. The official death toll stands at 46 (at the time of the podcast recording, it was 35).

That last number might have been higher if not for social media. In the early hours of the hurricane, 911 systems were overwhelmed, and many people reported not being able to get through to emergency services at all.  Read more...