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When "nothing" happens, Facebook, Twitter and the like may be the places where heartbroken teens cry their cyber-tears, adults vent anger at politicians and virtually everyone plays online games. But the value of social media has never been in doubt and that has been confirmed this past week by the way the world responded to the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

What happened in Haiti was tragic, and relief efforts were being hampered on the ground. Starvation and epidemics may also be looming and the world once again found itself in a race against time. Yet it could have been much worse. In the words of Canada's Globe and Mail, if the earthquake had struck 20 years ago, "Haiti would have been a black hole", with an anxious outside waiting for days if not weeks to realise the scale of the devastation and scope out what could be done to help the victims. And it would have been far too late by then.

Thanks to social media, the world is responding in a new way. News groups are counting on Facebook and Twitter updates to get immediate pictures of what happened. Relief efforts, collective prayers and communications have been coordinated in cyberspace. Relatives and friends and citizen reporters have been using the new means of communications to get stories out of the disaster zone.

Twitter posts appeared within seconds of the quake, while photos emerged on Twitpic and Flickr almost instantaneously. Videos soon appeared on YouTube. Text message donations flooded charities in Canada. Messages of condolences were everywhere on the Internet. From concrete relief efforts to gestures of sympathy, the world is reacting through the new social means of global communications. This is despite the fact that only 10 per cent of Haiti's 9 million have access to the Internet.

Amid devastating losses and despair, we have seen a ray of hope. People of all races, religions and backgrounds have come together faster than ever to help or pray for Haiti. According to a report, nearly 3 per cent of all blog posts have something to do with the Haitian quake or relief efforts, with Twitter posts being the leading source. The Twitter account for the Red Cross has gained more than 10,000 "followers" since the quake, compared to 50-100 per day in the days prior.

On Friday in the US, the Red Cross tweeted that more than US$8 million (Bt263 million) had been raised by people texting HAITI to 90999 (doing so charges $10 to their cellphone bill towards a donation). Elsewhere, charitable organisations also reported an unprecedented number of people turning to social media to give money for disaster relief efforts. It's no longer about governments or world leaders pleading for aid. Social media have taken an initiative with an end product that could soon surpass everyone's expectations.

Arguably the best known Haitian in America, musician Wyclef Jean, has been using Twitter to appeal to his 1.3 million followers for financial aid and support. Port-au-Prince Salvation Army director Bob Poff has been using Facebook and Skype to communicate with teams on the ground, and back in the US. While some may have had their religious faith shaken by the quake, Poff wrote: "Thank God for Facebook."

A USA Today article on Friday quoted Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes as saying that Facebook had posted more than 1,500 status updates per minute containing the word "Haiti" since the quake. The most popular Facebook online game, Farmville, which is played by tens of millions around the world, has introduced a special crop - white corn - which needs to be "bought" with real money as a donation to a Haiti relief fund.

When more than 100,000, or far more, people perished like that, it's hard to make sense of it all. However, as someone has written in the blogosphere, although disasters haven't changed, we can. At least the force that devastated Haiti has seen an unprecedented response. Again, like someone else said online, it's important to respond to the Haiti crisis, not only because we now have a far better means to do so, but because this means tells us we need to.