The Global Post’s recent article about the use of social media in devastated Japan, Japan tsunami disaster: As Japan scrambles, Twitter reigns, echoes the same sentiment I’ve had lately regarding social media:

It seems no natural disaster or revolt can pass without an examination of Twitter, the free internet social media service that lets users type out news, rants, epiphanies or cries for help in 140 characters or less.

Of course, some of this information isn’t exactly an examination or critique. If you Google “Twitter Japan Tsunami” you’ll have to wade through link after link about Hollywood celebrities tweeting about the recent events in Japan (yawn). However, if you know where to look, you can find some very interesting information about the use of social media in Japan right now. AWARE’s members have certainly had a lot to say about the value and use of social media in disasters lately. Apparently, so has the rest of the world.

Slate published an article titled, The Best-Laid Plans…. The story isn’t so much a critique of the use of social media since the disaster but more a snapshot of how the Kesennuma City Crisis Management Department worked to amass Twitter followers and keep them engaged in the topic of emergency preparedness well before the recent earthquake and tsunami events. Kesennuma City is in complete ruin, but the tweeting continues.

Ushahidi has, of course, deployed its services in Japan — it also has begun blogging about its work. A recent post shows a heat map of its deployment. It appears that well over half of Japan has been impacted by the earthquake and tsunami events.

(While you’re on Ushahidi’s blog, I encourage you to check out its series titled, “Recent Deployments and Lessons Learned Part 1 and Part 2.”  More to come on this two-part series in another post!)

Even the media is using social media to cover the disaster…and of course they are writing about it, as evidenced by the BBC’s aptly titled article, Using Twitter to cover the Earthquake in Japan and USAToday’s Japan: Twitter earthquake and tsunami updates from the ground. In fact, Scientific American used the tweets and Facebook status updates of the local population to report on Japan’s “online panic” caused by the nuclear crisis.  The media may be on to something here. As more reporters flee Japan due to fears of nuclear contamination, we may see them rely more heavily on first hand social media accounts in place of on-the-ground journalists to report the news.

I’m sure the coverage and critique of Japan’s use of social media during a disaster has only just begun, especially now that Japan’s Office of the Prime Minister launched its own Facebook page this week…in English.