Confusion swept across the Midlands of England on Monday after a tweet of a rehearsal for a Muse gig at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena was mistaken for a huge fire.
Oooh fire at the Ricoh twitter.com/kate_mulgrew/s…
— Kate Mulgrew (@kate_mulgrew) May 20, 2013
The image, tweeted by Kate Mulgrew yesterday afternoon, appeared to show the stadium on fire. It was actually a pyrotechnic rehearsal. The West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) received no calls for an incident, and soon afterward it sent its own message via Twitter: “There is no fire at the Richo [sic] Arena Coventry. Pyrotechnic testing is currently going on for a concert.”
The hysteria on Twitter shows how the power of social media can spread a message as quick as a fire can spread round a building.
Liz Cooper, the arena’s marketing director, told BBC News:
My first thoughts were obviously the residents around the Ricoh so we got a message on to Twitter, but within 10 minutes, with the power of social media, it just went ballistic. Everybody phoned, everybody was concerned. Muse have got a very elaborate production set and they’ve got chimneys on stage.
We discussed the idea of using social media to make emergency calls in February. It may seem a far-off concept, but the fact that the WMFS responded within 21 minutes on Twitter, and the stadium managers themselves responded within 10 minutes, raises some interesting points.
I think the idea of using social media-generated images to build an interactive picture of an event that has happened or is ongoing has particular merit. But it’s certainly not likely to replace the 999 phone call in a hurry.
Now, who spotted the Muse song title in this article? Can you think of any more?
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