"I’ve had a serious injury and NEED Help!" she typed.
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Fazzina says she tried calling another cousin on her cellphone but couldn’t connect. Desperate, Fazzina tried Twitter, the social networking site, on which more than 1,000 "followers" had signed up to receive her tweets.
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At least half a dozen people, most who had never met her, picked up their phones.
Mary-Ellen Harper, director of fire and rescue services for the Farmington Fire Department, says her department got calls from California, New York and Chicago.
Within minutes of sending her tweet, Fazzina says she heard an ambulance siren.
In areas such as state parks, with spotty cellphone coverage, it’s not unusual for people to be able to send instant messages or 140-character tweets when they can’t make voice calls, says David Redl of CTIA-The Wireless Association, an industry group.
"If you are at the edge of a (wireless) network, you’ll have fringe coverage enough to get a text message through," Redl says.
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https://www.jems.com/article/news/injured-cyclist-uses-twitter-roldId.20100804174126223
Biking in Baltimore