As Hurricane Sandy batters the Eastern Seaboard, Twitter is offering free promoted crisis tweets to the Red Cross, FEMA, the New York City's Mayor's Office and the Maryland Emergency Management Agency to help keep users updated on the storm. Other state and local authorities can contact Twitter to join the pro bono program.
The site published a blog post Monday afternoon, including a list of suggested accounts to follow for real-time updates on the Frankenstorm, including state and local governments, and relief agencies from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. Twitter launched a Hurricane Sandy page at twitter.com/#sandy. The post also suggested following @NOAA, @FEMA, @craigatfema, @femaespanol, @readydotgov, @usNWSgov, @CNNEE, @femaregion1, @femaregion2, @femaregion3, @RedCross and @NHC_Atlantic.
Twitter also explained how to get updates via SMS, in the event that your power or Internet go down -- even if you're not a Twitter user. To receive tweets, text "follow [username]" (for example, "follow FEMA") to 40404, from anywhere in the U.S.
What accounts are you following for the latest Sandy updates? Share any good follow recommendations in the comments.