We’ve talked a lot this week about how social media can help us in the event of a crisis, but today we’re going to talk about something else social media and the tools of the internet gives us that we’ve never had before:  access.  In the wake of the tsunami in Asia, or the earthquake in Eureka, sites like YouTube were bombarded with hand shot videos that gave us a first hand notion of what it was like to experience these events.  Before, we might see clips like this – after they were filtered through a news station or other traditional media outlet, if the media outlet even knew the clips existed at all.  Now, “normal” people all over the world can play news anchor, and the audience can get a much wider scope of all sorts of events – be them horrific or celebratory.  If knowledge is power, then social media has become one of the largest feeders of that power.  Below, we share two clips, one of the recent 6.5 earthquake in northern California, and one of the tsunami.  What has social media given you new access to in your life?