Are We Too Plugged In? How Digital Has Affected Our Work Ethic
By: Chelsea Burcz

Hurricane Sandy
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The past week has been a whirlwind (literally) for those of us effected by Hurricane Sandy. Especially for those of us working in digital media, the constant rush to be relevant and ahead of the pack pushed many of us to start working again before we had electricity, heat, or fresh water.

As a recent article in Adweek pointed out, digital agencies, websites, and social media mavens scraped together temporary offices, back up sites, and ingenious ways of staying plugged in, all to just keep working — because even though we may have not had power in New York City, the rest of the world did (or so it felt).

While social media and the age of digital has boosted our ability to get our news as it happens, are there short comings to always being “on”?

Digital tools helped those with power, cell phone service, and Internet to figure out where relief efforts were (among many other things), but what was interesting to me was how many radio reports during the storm referred to websites to “get more information.” How was one to go to a website while trapped in their flooding apartment without Internet or 3G?

It seems as though the digital age is a double-edged sword during a natural disaster: Those on the outside can see in, but those without the tools of communication (like a laptop or smartphone), couldn’t reach out for help.

So what does this have to do with bloggers?

We’ve talked about how staying relevant to topical events can help boost your traffic — but when is it too much? Here at IFB, we were curious to see which bloggers chose to incorporate the storm into their editorial content, and which didn’t, and why.

Here are a few posts I happened to spot while browsing the Internet that incorporated Hurricane Sandy into their content:

Tell us what you did…

 

For those of you effected, did you blog about the storm? Or did you blog as business as usual (as if there was no storm)? Or did you not blog at all?

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If you did blog about the storm, please submit your links here, we’d like to see how you approached it!

 

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Comments

  1. Avatar of Irina Dorn
    Irina Bezdezhsky says:
    November 5, 2012 at 4:04 pm · Reply

    I’m from Staten Island, NY.
    My home lost power, but my office didn’t so I was able to post from there about the storm to let my customers and readers know that there will be delays with their orders and with new posts, as well as let them know we are ok. After that I took a break because there are so many more important things to do in this community than taking pictures and blogging about them right now.
    I think the whole idea about being a blogger is creating and improving communities. And no better time like the present.

    Also facebook has done amazing things in my area to connect people, donations, vans and those who need help. Perhaps if you are great with social media, you can lend a hand at doing that :)

    Hope you and your families are well and dry!

    http://brandnamesus.com/2/post/2012/10/sandy-aftermath.html

  2. Avatar of Lauren - Slowburn Fastburn
    Lauren - Slowburn Fastburn says:
    November 5, 2012 at 6:21 pm · Reply

    ^I wish you the best of luck in Staten Island and hope that everything is well! I had a trip planned to NYC this past weekend and didn’t let Sandy get in the way of a good time. The best way to deal with the storm is to face it head on! My boyfriend just got his power back in Northern Jersey, hopefully that means the gas crisis will be over soon!

    x lauren
    http://slowburnfastburn.com

  3. christy k says:
    November 6, 2012 at 2:48 am · Reply

    As I live halfway across the world, I don’t see a need to blog about such things, my main concern is of fashion and beauty not of what is on the news. I’ll leave that to news channels and newspapers.

    liviingthemomentum.blogspot.com

  4. Avatar of inspiration&realisation
    inspiration&realisation says:
    November 6, 2012 at 3:44 am · Reply

    I lived in NYC for two years, until last December. If I were still there, I would have been without power and heat in an extremely cold loft in Soho. While I didn’t like living in NY, I am still fond of the city in some ways and I worried about friends and family who lives there. I didn’t blog about the storm, but I was posting on my FB page a lot, updating where I could found informations, where to find supplies, power and so. I got extremely nice responses, including a reader who offer to give shelter to my daughter. hope NY gets back on its feet soon! <3

  5. Avatar of Chaucee from Streets and Stripes
    Chaucee from Streets and Stripes says:
    November 6, 2012 at 8:14 am · Reply

    honestly, when bloggers started to write about sandy i kind of tuned out. i was expecting it and it was predictable.

  6. Rachel says:
    November 9, 2012 at 7:14 pm · Reply

    I really liked Gala Darling’s post that you linked to, and also how she did some posts to help New Yorkers out during the storm in the lead up to it. I’m in Los Angeles, so even thought I was reading about the storm online and I was seeing horrific pictures on the news, I did not really fully grasp how it was for people until I read her post about the 5 days she had to live through it.

  7. Donna says:
    November 10, 2012 at 2:04 am · Reply

    I didn’t feel right to continue blogging about beauty and fashion when there was such a disaster. I live in the United States and therefore what happens to others here IS my concern. I wrote a post acknowledging what had happened and after a few more days I continued with my typical posts. I thought that was a good way to keep my blog’s focus but also be a compassionate citizen.
    To be honest I was surprised at anyone in the U.S. who kept blogging about fashion like nothing had happened. Not impressed by that.

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