While it has been sunny (yet a bit windy) here in Chicago, a storm has passed not only on the East Coast but also in the virtual world. Social media feeds that were at first flooded with presidential debate talk then shifted to Hurricane Sandy on Sunday evening. Even if you weren’t amidst the hurricane, it was hard to stay away from the images (both real and fake) that came pouring in Monday and Tuesday. Mashable reported that 10 images per second were being uploaded to Instagram with the hashtag #Sandy. At least until their cell phone batteries died, residents of the cities affected were able to receive updates in real time from local officials warning them to stay away from certain areas. Thanks to social media, the whole country felt like they were weathering the storm.

There is no shortage of devastating photos of the storm’s aftermath but the light heartedness I enjoyed during these chaotic few days were the photos that captured the small, personal moments that haven’t been seen through the media. Friends making cocktails with the booze on hand, a dog curled up in blankets, a child ready to play board games. You can find all of these photos and more hurricane devasation by searching the hashtag #Sandy on Instagram. Currently, there are over 632,000 photos.  Many cities have postponed Halloween due power outages and other dangers in the area and after a long 3 days, the East Coast is rebuilding and trying to return to normalcy. Once the floods begin to dry up and East-Coasters head back to work, we’ll have a new topic to talk about on social media. November 6th marks Election Day and surely there will be no shortage of conversations happening on social media regarding this highly opinionated topic!