Today’s TV on Tuesday is a TED Talk by James Surowiecki, finance writer for the New Yorker and author of The Wisdom of the Crowds. He pinpoints the moments that social media became as relevant and informational as traditional news (such as the 2005 tsunami or the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes) and how it may even trump traditional media in its ability to preserve personal stories in their most direct form.  How do you get your news these days? Is it from social media (tweets, Facebook updates, and the like) or more traditional sources (such as the New York Times)?

By now, everyone’s heard about the devastating earthquake in Haiti: as we write this, over 100,000 are feared dead.  We posted on Tuesday about how social media can save lives, and suddenly, we’re given the opportunity to witness it in action.  According to CNN, a fundraising campaign done solely through text messages and networking sites like Twitter and Facebook has raised more than $3 million for the Red Cross’s relief work in Haiti.  Mass text messages went out on various carriers last night, urging users to text “HAITI” to 90999 in order to donate $10 to the relief effort, to be added to their phone bill at the end of the month.  IPhone developer Justin Williams jumpstarted the idea of Mac and IPhone developers decided to donate a day’s worth of sales to Haitian relief efforts.  He tweeted his idea, blogged about it, and got a bunch of developers behind him.   The result? IndieRelief, where companies and individual developers can choose an organization for a day’s worth of sales to go to.

The crisis in Haiti is heartbreaking, but it’s wonderful to see the tools we use to talk about our lives and promote our business to be used to spread widespread good in this way.  With the types of social networks we have in place worldwide, it hardly takes any effort to mobilize millions of people, and that’s an amazing thing.

For more information and updates on Haiti, click here.

As more evidence of the reach of social media, we leave you with some TwitPics of Haiti, taken by @CarelPedre and @MarvinAdy.  And if you have any more information on relief efforts through social media or otherwise, please share!

[via Mashable]