Social Media Helps Victims, Families Connect After Japan Disaster

Social media is playing a large role in allowing people to communicate in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Seattle Pacific University student Jenni Husby has used Facebook to check in with friends. She was raised in Japan and spent time on the coast where the Tsunami hit, she said.

Mastataka Sugasawa, a Western Washington University exchange student who went back to Japan, was able to touch base with worried friends who had lost touch with him after the tsunami.

The U.S. embassy in Japan encouraged U.S. citizens in the country on Friday to use text messages and social media as a means to connect with family overseas.

Several of KIRO 7's Facebook fans told stories Monday of trying to connect with friends, family and loved ones in Japan.

"I have a very good friend in the metro Tokyo area; it was impossible to contact (him) via phone, but (we) used Facebook within an hour of the quake to make contact," said Paul Droppelman. "He states the phone service is less than reliable, but the internet has pretty much stayed up."

"We have connected (on Facebook) with our rotary exchange students, both current and former, to check and see if they and their families are OK (they are)," CharlieandJayne Neu wrote.

Even people who didn't have relatives in affected areas of the country were happy to see social networking updates.

"Though I am not from (a) devastated area of Japan, it is such a big relief to see friends updating on Facebook," wrote Maki Tynes. "While the phone was hardly connected, it seemed Twitter, Facebook, Mixi (a Japanese social network) were (a) great help getting information."

Tynes also wrote that a friend was able to find out one of his friends was OK by using Google's Person Finder, which allows users to look for people who are missing or report people who have been found.

Related: How Facebook Users Reacted to the Japan Earthquake & Tsunami [ANIMATED GRAPHIC] | Mashable

Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: Social Media Spreads News, Raises Relief Funds | ABC News

Social media resources for Japanese earthquake, tsunami coverage | The Poynter Institute