Entertainment

This One Tweet After Ariana Grande Explosions Shows How Important Social Media Is

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On Monday night, Greater Manchester Police responded to reports of an explosion at the Manchester Arena in the UK, where an Ariana Grande concert was taking place.

UPDATE: Manchester police revealed Tuesday morning that at least 22 people are dead and about 60 injured after a lone bomber detonated an improvised explosive device outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England. The attacker is deceased and police believe he acted alone. According to CNN, authorities are investigating whether the attacker was part of a broader terror network.

Here's how you can help victims of the attack, which is the deadliest Britain has seen since the 2005 London bombing.

Grande was not injured at the concert and tweeted after the event: "broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don't have words."

EARLIER: GM police confirmed that at least 19 people were killed in the explosion, along with approximately 50 individuals injured either in the explosion, or during the stampede that occurred as people frantically evacuated the arena.

The GM police Twitter account also tweeted out this statement following the event:

Elite Daily has reached out to Ariana Grande's team for more information, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

Ariana Grande's rep confirmed to E! News, "Ariana is okay. We are further investigating what happened."

Videos of scenes inside the arena show just how chaotic the situation was, as thousands of people tried to flee the arena as quickly as possible.

Following the initial break of this horrifying incident, many people frantically took to Twitter to tweet pictures of loved ones who hadn't been in contact with their friends or family following the explosion.

And this one tweet shows just how powerful using this tactic on social media can be, especially following incidents like the explosion tonight:

After tweeting out a photo of her friend Heather at the Ariana Grande concert, Twitter user @RileyBlackery was able to learn that her friend was safe and sound following the explosion.

Twitter user @nathanlamb26 tweet a photo of Heather to Riley to let her know Heather was safe following the incident, and that her phone had died, so she hadn't been able to get in touch with her loved ones.

This tweet goes to show that, no matter how much we criticize social media, it has the power to work wonders in disseminating important, pressing information out to huge numbers of people, especially in times of crisis.

Specifically involving tonight's tragic incident, social media has also been useful in letting relatives and friends know where they might find their loved ones following the explosion:

Sites like Facebook have allowed us to mark ourselves as "safe" during natural disasters or violent events so our friends can rest easy.

And tonight, Twitter accounts like that of the Greater Manchester Police have been crucial in getting the important, accurate information out as quickly as possible.

Hopefully, tonight, social media will continue to help more people like Heather get back in touch with their loved ones to let them know they're safe.

Our thoughts are with the victims of this devastating incident, as well as their loved ones.