If you had just survived a plane crash, it is not inconceivable that your first thoughts would be a long line of expletives, as were Mike Wilson's when the Continental Airlines 737 in which he was travelling slid off the runway in Denver.
But it is not what Wilson said that is unusual, but the way he said it. Instead of – or perhaps as well as – shouting the words at the top of his lungs, Wilson chose to communicate his thoughts on the micro-blogging site Twitter, via his mobile phone. He is thus believed to have made history by becoming the first person to tweet a plane crash just moments after the accident.
"Holy fucking shit – I was just in a plane crash!" were his exact words.
Updates included his glasses falling off as he left the plane, an observation that perhaps he should take the bus in future, a picture from the scene and then grumbles that Continental were not serving passengers drinks after they left the plane.
"You have your wits scared out of you, drag your butt out of a flaming ball of wreckage and you can't even get a vodka-tonic," he wrote.
The amazing Twitter response to last month's Mumbai terror attacks was seen by some as the moment microblogging came of age, with news organisations flocking to the site for updates from people on the ground. In a blog by ultrabrown, headed Alive, the writer began: "And no, the lyrics of the Pearl Jam song will not be part of this post" – a reference to the grunge band's 1990s hit Alive, which seemed questionable on taste grounds at the least.
If you have blogged a traumatic incident, what prompted you to do it? Should anything be off limits for bloggers and tweeters, or is nothing sacred?
