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EARTHDATE: July 18, 2010

Official News page 8


REAL LIFE NEWS: TWITTER SAVES MAN FROM FACIAL PARALYSIS

by Hazed

A web designer from Cornwall, England, is crediting Twitter for saving him from suffering permanent facial paralysis, according to recent news reports.

Patrick Johnson, 26 years old, woke up one morning to find half his face was numb and drooping. Now, most people who suffer something as serious as that would head straight for the doctor's surgery, or go to the local hospital, or even call for an ambulance. Or if they thought they needed advice first, call NHS Direct.

But not Mr Johnson. No, his first move was to get onto Twitter and post a message describing his symptoms. Luckily, one person who read the message replied with something sensible: Glasgow woman Marj Beattie said it sounded like Bell's Palsy* and advised him to go straight to A&E (that's the British version of ER). The doctors confirmed the Twittered diagnosis and started him on a course of treatment.

Wow, what a lucky happenstance. Good job he turned to Twitter for help, eh? Well done social networking.

But wait a moment. In this case, Mr Johnson was lucky enough that someone who knew what they were talking about responded to his message, but suppose instead he had got a response saying, "Oh, that's nothing to worry about, take a couple of aspirin and it'll be OK in a couple of days?" Or, worse, "I recommend a homeopathic treatment/untested herbal remedy/crystal healing." Or how about "That sounds like a side-effect of the mind rays the government is sending out - you need to start wearing a tin foil helmet at all times." Would he have acted on that kind of advice? If so, he might have ended up with permanent facial paralysis.

But the media just love the idea that Twitter saved the day, so that's how they slanted all the news stories. Sigh!


* The first time I typed this I accidentally called it Bella's Palsy!


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