Twitter sends its thoughts to Boston — #prayforboston

Twitter is frantic with news of the explosions in Boston during the city’s historic marathon. According to reports two people have died from the blasts near the finish line, while dozens more have been reported injured.

According to CNN the explosions happened at about 2:45pm “more than two hours after the first of the race’s nearly 27 000 runners had crossed the finish line”.

Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley, who ran the marathon, tweeted from the scene reporting on new developments. Crowley, who was using Foursquare to check in at every kilometre of the race, sent his first tweet soon after the explosion.

I’m ok.about 20k of us in corral just before mi 26. marker. @chelsa ok too

— Dennis Crowley (@dens) April 15, 2013

On Twitter, #prayforboston and JFK Library, where more bombs were found, are featured on the top 10 trends.

Users have flocked to Twitter to express their sympathies and share their prayers for the injured and the city.

parents were running a marathon in memory of the children killed in the shootings & now they’ve been bombed? society is vile. #prayforboston

— gemmaaaaaa! (@_heyitsgem) April 15, 2013

#prayforboston NYtimes have mapped out the bombings twitter.com/fayerobson/sta…

— faye. (@fayerobson) April 15, 2013

Please #prayforboston -my heart goes out to the injured and to the family and friends of those who passed away.

— The Real Paula Abdul (@PaulaAbdul) April 15, 2013

It’s unbelievable how tragic things happen on the other side of this earth while over here everything’s so peaceful & normal #prayforboston

— Vanessa (@x3Ariana) April 15, 2013

The apparent attack is one of the top stories on Reddit, where users are using the platform to compile updates on the explosion.

“A lot of confusion over the JFK Library fire, with some on the scanner calling it an explosion and “incendiary.” May or may not be related. Will try to get a good source once we have confirmation,” wrote one Redditor.

Police tweet for help

Boston police meanwhile have sent out a tweet requesting anyone with video footage from the finish line to send it to them.

BostonPolice looking for video of the finish line #tweetfromthebeat via @cherylfiandaca

— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 15, 2013

While social media has the potential to cause chaos in disaster situations, it could also be useful in establishing exactly what happened in this instance.