Toronto Canada blogger Romina writes in We_magazine describing how Twitter sparked into action when an outage plunged West Toronto into darkness at 10pm, with temperatures in the city at -20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit). From the post:

. . . Initially, it seemed as if Twitter was going to – once again – play the pivotal role it knows best: disseminating essential information. An hour after the first #darkTO tweet, major city newspaper websites had yet to make mention of the outage. And that seemed to sit just fine with Torontonians who opted to rely on one another, relaying updates and information – despite battery juice eventually running out for many who had access to only their mobile phones for communication.

Then, solidarity at its best: one tweet offering to pick people up and take them somewhere warm; another one offering to drop off candles and food; people offering to check in on elderly neighbors and families with children; one kind soul simply sent out his warm thoughts – a small gesture, but widely appreciated by those on the receiving end. Adding humor to a bleak situation, a tweet from a Winnipeg (a city that is well accustomed to its fair share of shrewd Canadian winters) resident tried to lighten the mood with a quip: “-20c and Toronto is whining?! We’re doing cartwheels (wearing shorts) in those digits!” . . .