Todd Mundt

You don’t need to be a Brightkite user to see Adam Flater’s pictures from Parkersburg, IA, a scene of devastation after Sunday’s tornado, which killed four people in Parkersburg, and two others in a nearby town.

I don’t know a lot about Adam; we’ve been fellow Brightkite “friends” for a few weeks. But seeing his pictures brings the damage home. I’m guessing this is his parents’ place, since family members were the only ones allowed in yesterday.

Brightkite is new and relatively untested. I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what it can do for me (Steve Rubel checked it out and said “eh”)… the same question I asked about twitter when I joined in January 2007.

Regardless of Brightkite’s future, it’s another chance to see how services like twitter and Brightkite can take us right to where things are happening. This stuff doesn’t replace traditional journalism (the gathering of random bits of information to find a coherent story), but enhances it, adds texture and depth, giving people who are directly affected by an event the tools with which to make their own statement about it.

Best wishes to Adam, his family, the folks in Parkersburg, and all others in my home state who suffered in this weekend’s storms.