COMPANY WILL KEEP CUSTOMER POSTED ON POWER OUTAGES, SAFETY MESSAGES

Folks in South Carolina wanting information on impending hurricanes no longer need access to a television or a computer.

The utility company Duke Energy said it will use the free microblogging service Twitter to update customers about power outages and safety messages during hurricanes.

“Quite honestly, I think it’s very appealing to us,” Michelle Pearson of Duke Energy, which serves 600,000 customers in South Carolina, told The State newspaper. “If the power goes out, and their cell phone is still charged up, Twitter gives us the opportunity to share information with customers.”

Applications for mobile phones like Twitterberry and Twitteriffic have expanded the capability of Twitter to allow users access from their mobile phones.

The company will likely use the “Duke Energy Storm” account on Twitter to pos updates. That account has been active since Jan. 28 broadcasting storm-related power outages.

As an aside, according to some random person on Twitter, Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers will be on the “Colbert Report” tonight on Comedy Central with South Carolina’s favorite son, Stephen Colbert.