Social media sites rife with activity after Haiti quake

Relief organizations, donors, concerned relatives connect to find updates and philanthropic information

In the wake of the devastating Haiti earthquake, social media emerged yet again yesterday as an essential tool to get information out and to bring relief donations in.

Relief groups were also out in full force on Facebook, reporting updates about the earthquake, correcting misinformation and connecting with concerned citizens.

Organizations such as Oxfam International, UNICEF and others on Huffington Post’s earthquake relief roundup had a presence on social media. But the topics that got the most traction by far were the calls for text message donations by Yele Haiti (musician Wyclef Jean’s relief organization for his native country) and the American Red Cross. On Wednesday afternoon, a Twitter search for Yele generated about 1,500 tweets in 10 minutes. No word as of this writing on how much either organization raised through the text campaign.