THE DAILY BEAST - Nov 30 - Twitter is best known as a place where
teenagers, celebrities, and politicians blast banal chatter to the
masses, but the site also is emerging as a potential tool in suicide
prevention. In April, the actress Demi Moore was credited with saving a
suicidal woman who tweeted her. “Going to cut my arm down the whole arm
so it doesn’t waste time.” the woman wrote. Moore reposted the message
to her own account and added, “Hope you are joking.” People who follow
the actress decided to follow up, tracing the post to a woman in San
Jose, CA, and alerting the police. This network effect is a new
paradigm in suicide prevention, said Anara Guard, deputy director of
the Suicide Prevention Resource Center. “A cry for help is common, but
now the effects are faster, broader, and more difficult to predict.” FULL ARTICLE @ THE DAILY BEAST