Twitter to the rescue, Egypt edition

Twitter, the micro-blogging medium that allows networks of friends to easily broadcast short messages, has often been derided as frivolous and self-indulgent.  But here's a case where a real use of the service has been found.

According to the Mercury News, a UC Berkeley student who was arrested in Egypt for taking pictures of a political demonstration used the service to "tweet" a call for help. 

"ARRESTED,"  he wrote. When 29-year-old James Karl Buck pressed "send," the message was instantly conveyed to a large group of friends and allies, including, said the Mercury News story, a bunch of lefty Egyptian anti-government bloggers.

Buck's Twitter "followers"--the network of people who receive short messages a user sends on the services -- alerted the U.S. Embassy and international media, and he was released the next day. (His interpreter and friend is apparently still being held, incommunicado, by Egyptian authorities.)

Twitter's fundamental strength--the ability to quickly disseminate bits of information to a wide and interested audience--makes perfect sense for political activity and demonstrations, where situations and danger levels can change instantly. Might this be why, as  ZDNET  reports, the service is blocked in Dubai?