From finding missing people to promoting some great causes, Social Media is proving to be a revelation at keeping people connected and raising awareness. Below are some of the biggest stories this year where Social Media has helped and made a huge impact on people’s lives.

Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull

The closure of airports due to volcanic ash left the airlines suffering a £1.7 billion loss within a week, and left millions of passengers stranded. Call centres were unable to handle the significant increase in call volumes, and customer service efforts soon took to Social Media. The hash tags #ashcloud were used by airlines to keep passengers up to date with their flights, and any changes that may be made.

Eurocontrol came to the rescue becoming a one stop shop for all the information that passengers *and* airlines needed. Live updates were marked on a map informing visitors where the ash was, where it was heading and predicted implications. Eurocontrol took to Facebook, Twitter and even groups on LinkedIn to make sure that everyone was informed as and when new information became available.

easyJet’s Facebook page continues to update passengers still stranded/planning of travelling of any delays/cancellations that may be occurring.

1 Million Shirts

Jason Sadler’s main presence on social media is through I Wear Your Shirt, the unique marketing campaign in which Jason would wear a company’s T-Shirt everyday of the year, with a pricing structure following the calendar, $1 for the 1^st of January and $365 dollars for the 31^st of December. The campaign went viral, and Jason managed to sell out the year.

2010 sees Jason turning his efforts in Social Media for good with 1 Million Shirts, a worldwide campaign which sees Jason asking for your unwanted T-shirts, which will all be donated to those in need in Kenya, Uganda, DRC, Ghana, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Swaziland and South Africa.

Chile Earthquake

Sheryl Breuker was distraught that her Sister-in-law may have been injured due to the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Chile earlier this year. Due to telephone lines being down, there was no way to get in touch, and panic began to rise:

Many messages were sent out by Sheryl, and it wasn’t until a tweet by @jpcoderch came in that she thought any help would come about. Her Sister-in-law’s address was given to Juan and he went to check on the Sister, finding her perfectly fine, and responded to Sheryl with the news.

This is only one of the cases where a missing person has been found through Social Media, and it shows the good that can come about from a tool which is regarded by a lot of people as just “hype”.

Which areas have you seen Social Media help with? Let me know in the comments box below!