This week, social media truly proved its worth.

As Japan buckled in the wake of last week’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami, mobile phone networks jammed and telephone lines were disconnected. Tragic images of the level of devastation hit global news bulletins via television helicopter cameras, webcams and CCTV.

For the Japanese people caught up in the chaos, social media has been a lifeline.

Thanks to broadband, Twitter and Facebook – along with Skype – became the easiest means to contact missing family members. On Friday alone, 246,075 tweets had been posted containing the word “earthquake”.

Social media, and Twitter in particular, continues to be a source of hope for Japan. #prayforjapan still tops the worldwide trending topics list and the celebrity Twitterati, including P Diddy and Lady Gaga, have encouraged their millions of followers to donate to the Red Cross’ disaster relief fund.

This natural disaster has destroyed thousands of lives. Thanks to the online community, Japan has been able to stay connected to some sort of normality. Via Twitter, the globe has united in genuine empathy and provided a virtual shoulder for the Japanese to lean on.

Each Peppermint begins the day by digesting the world’s news along with their tea and cornflakes. We leaf through each newspaper sharing ideas and keeping up-to-date with what’s going on. Since January 13, the tragic earthquake in Haiti has been at the epicentre of the world’s media agenda and yesterday morning was no different.

“I bet there were some tongue-tied women when Daniel Craig answered the ’phone,” said a fellow Peppermint, as she pointed to a picture showing enough A-list celebs to put the Oscar guest list to shame. It was coverage of the charity telethon in aid of the Haiti appeal this weekend.

At first I felt my nose wrinkle at the thought of toothy celebs dominating so many column inches when the subject matter is so serious.  However, on reflection, we see PR campaigns every day that use celebrity endorsement to raise clients’ profiles, so why shouldn’t the same strategy be applied to such a worthy cause?

The objective is to raise a heap of cash for the appeal. The strategy is to use a bus load of Hollywood’s finest. The result is reams of easy-on the-eye coverage. And that has garnered the attention of all those readers who flick without pausing over the stomach-churning images of death and destruction we’ve seen relentlessly over the past week or so. All in all – a job well done.  So congratulations celebrities, media and to all who have donated so far!