Student 'Twitters' his way out of Egyptian jail

News Type: Event — Sat Sep 6, 2008 1:15 AM EDT

technology, egypt, twitter, student, cell-phone, jail, bond, bail, egyptian

(CNN) -- James Karl Buck helped free himself from an Egyptian jail with a one-word blog post from his cell phone.

Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Mahalla, Egypt, covering an anti-government protest when he and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested April 10.

On his way to the police station, Buck took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging site Twitter.

The message only had one word. "Arrested."

Within seconds, colleagues in the United States and his blogger-friends in Egypt -- the same ones who had taught him the tool only a week earlier -- were alerted that he was being held.

Twitter is a social-networking blog site that allows users to send status updates, or "tweets," from cell phones, instant messaging services and Facebook in less than 140 characters.

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Who's leading the conversation?

This visualization below allows you to see the impact that each user has on the current conversation. The top row contains the group of users who have had the most impact, the 2nd row the group of users who have had the 2nd most impact (et cetera). Users with similar impact are grouped together, and the average score of the group is shown to the left of the group. The author of the article is also shown on the left, in their corresponding group. Each user's score is based on the number of comments the user has made plus the number of votes their comments have received. The scores are calculated relative one another, so while their absolute value is not particularly important, their relative difference does indicate a larger difference in impact on the conversation.

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Ron Rubens

Unbelievable!

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#1 - Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:02 PM EDT

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The Dude Dean

This shows you how powerful microblogging can truly be.

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#1.1 - Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:25 AM EDT

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LEGARVIN

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Student 'Twitters' his way out of Egyptian jail

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