• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 5, 2010

A complex real-time network on the Web monitors earthquakes and makes information available across the Internet, disclosing locations and magnitudes on search engines Google, Bing and Yahoo, but seismologists now realize they can glean much more data from social network sites, too.

Chile, Haiti and Baja are three locations not far apart geographically that have experienced 7.2 magnitudes or greater this year -- but as far as seismologists understand, there's no connection between earthquakes, according to Susan Hough, seismologist at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center. "There are things about earthquakes we don't understand, so it's possible there's some sort of connection," she says.

Google has a relationship with the USGS. While the search engine receives earthquake information from USGS as it become available, real-time search often catches reports of quakes moments before, according to a Google spokesperson. There have been cases where reports of rumbling appear in real-time Twitter tweets on google.com before the USGS information appears to searchers.

Helping to better understand activity patterns, some seismologists informally monitor chatter from colleagues and friends that spread across social sites like Facebook, as well as publicly available videos that people upload to YouTube.

The latest earthquake struck Sunday in Mexicali just south of the Mexico and California border in Baja. Kaelynn, in the middle of making a video in her room in San Diego, Calif., allowed the video camera to run as she abandoned the front of the computer screen and spotlight to find cover as the earth shook. The camera captured the shaking. She uploaded the video to YouTube.

"We watch YouTube clips posted by members," Hough says. "We're looking for indications of fault ruptures, and some of the social network sites can turn things up more quickly than scientists can."

Aside from videos similar to this one seismologist study, Hough monitors and reads correspondence between friends on Facebook, who often talk about scientific issues.

Hough points to social networks as a form of online "water cooler," where friends and colleagues in remote areas gather to check in on personal and business issues. The tactic to monitor these social sites "informally" has developed "organically" as Facebook and YouTube continue to develop and become platforms for those who have something to say.

Seismologists may monitor social network and video sites informally, but don't expect them to become part of the process to analyze seismic activity "in an organized way," because it's difficult to integrate these sites into an official monitoring process, Hough says.

Social media geeks learned early to turn toward Twitter, Buzz and other sites for news. Along with pictures, these posts make experiences more personal. The Internet saw it with Haiti, then Chile and now Baja. People posting on social networks and blogging sites like Twitter and Buzz have reported feeling the Baja quake as far north as Los Angeles and as far east as Phoenix, Ariz.

For those keeping track, the "knowledge engine" WolframAlpha identifies that since Jan. 1, the three largest earthquakes have occurred in Chile; Baja California, Mexico; and Western, Solomon Islands.