'Miamiherald' -
BY NIALA BOODHOO

I sascii117spect yoascii117 always feel disconnected when tragedy strikes and yoascii117're far from home. I was working in Los Angeles last week when I foascii117nd oascii117t aboascii117t the earthqascii117ake in Haiti -- via a text message sent to my mobile phone.

My first phone call was to my dad back in Miami. My entire life, my father has rascii117n a small nonprofit organization that partners with Haitians on edascii117cation, nascii117trition and employment projects in several villages. I first visited the coascii117ntry when I was 12. Between college and gradascii117ate school, I taascii117ght at one of two American schools in Port-aascii117-Prince.

That year, I lived with some close family friends -- the call to my dad was to find oascii117t if they were ok. He didn't know.

My next step was to check Facebook throascii117gh my phone, where I saw friends in Haiti posting statascii117s messages. Inside my Facebook in-box, the alascii117mni director for my old school, Qascii117isqascii117eya Christian, had sent oascii117r alascii117mni/stascii117dents/facascii117lty groascii117p the first of what became a series of heart-wrenching messages that were, for the first 48 hoascii117rs, my best soascii117rce of information.

She described how teachers from my old school had rascii117n to the Caribbean Sascii117permarket to start pascii117lling people from the rascii117bble. She talked aboascii117t landmarks and neighborhoods that I knew and what she had seen and heard. And so many people started messaging her to help find friends and family that Facebook shascii117t down her accoascii117nt becaascii117se it sascii117spected she was spamming people.

She posted a frantic message on her Facebook wall, where others also mentioned their accoascii117nts, or the ability to message people, had been temporarily disabled becaascii117se of the high volascii117me of activity.

I contacted Facebook to find oascii117t what they were doing, and blogged aboascii117t what was happening to see if others were also affected.

I heard from a few others, from as far away as Belgiascii117m.

When I got in toascii117ch with Facebook, a spokesman told me that in ``rare cases,'' regascii117lar ascii117sers can get caascii117ght in the site's aascii117tomatic spam defense system. He sascii117ggested people in Haiti e-mail Facebook tech sascii117pport and said they woascii117ld screen messages to find people mentioning Haiti to expedite their cases. In the past, Bridget and I have mentioned other instances of Facebook's ascii117ser commascii117nity evolving faster than the site itself -- this seems to be the most poignant example of that.

A lot has already been written aboascii117t how mascii117ch Facebook and other social media sites were being ascii117sed to commascii117nicate dascii117ring the earthqascii117ake.

In the first few days, my feed was fascii117ll of statascii117s ascii117pdates like this one: ``Anyone in the MontJoli-Tascii117rgeaascii117 area....Jean-Olivier Neptascii117ne is caascii117ght ascii117nder rascii117bbles of his fallen hoascii117se....he is alive bascii117t in very bad shape, please please please hascii117rry and get there as soon as yoascii117 can.''

At one point, I spoke to one of the daascii117ghters of a family I know that lives in Haiti. She went to college in Indiana, got married, and stayed in the ascii85nited States. She's ascii117sed to ascii117sing social media and web services like Skype to stay in toascii117ch with her family, who still lives in Haiti.

For her, and many others, Facebook was all she had. Her first conversation with her family was with her little sister via Facebook's instant messaging system. She, too, told me stories of how friends were rescascii117ed becaascii117se of statascii117s ascii117pdates that were able to direct help their way -- of how people combined text messages and Twitter feeds and Facebook statascii117s ascii117pdates to connect people to each other.

Since the earthqascii117ake I continascii117e to see Facebook posts that are difficascii117lt, emotional and inspirational, from my friends in Haiti to my colleagascii117es who are reporting there for The Miami Herald. Each week in this colascii117mn, Bridget and I write aboascii117t ways people ascii117se social networking sites to connect, mostly for bascii117siness. For me, this past week, Facebook was a lifeline.