There are all kinds of sharks at the beach, and some are more dangerous than others. The ones you really need to steer clear of are the big, carnivorous fish. They may be fun to watch from a glass bottomed boat and they may be exciting to visit in a protective cage, but you don’t want to run into one unexpectedly while paddling in your Wear it Out bikini trunks in the coastal waters. As you probably know, there have been six fatal shark attacks in Western Australia in the past couple of years. What you may not know is that only 30 percent of shark attacks are fatal. That’s closer to 20 swimmers injured or killed. With the large number of people in the water, that’s actually not much of a risk, statistically. Still, those numbers are worrying. Right now, Western Australia is the most dangerous place in the world for shark attacks. If only we knew where the sharks were, right? Too bad they don’t text or tweet before heading for the beach like the rest of us - or do they? Well, they may not text, but they tweet. You may have already heard or read about it. Our local Great Whites and Tiger Sharks are the newest members of everyone’s favourite social media site: Twitter. Are you looking at your phone? Good, because just in case you haven’t subscribed yet, here’s their Twitter feed: @SLSWA Got it? That’s short for Surf Life Saving Western Australia Twitter feed. If a shark comes to within a kilometre of shore, a tweet announces its location and vital statistics. The latest word is that there are almost 340 sharks on Twitter, and more are being added every week. Are they joining their pod-mates in a hot new social media pastime, with their own hashtags and in-jokes, using underwater smartphones? Well, not as far as we know. Scientists are catching the sharks and attaching tags with tiny homing devices to their fins. When the sharks swim close to shore, their homing devices broadcast an identity and location signal that is automatically translated into a tweet. The system has some drawbacks. Obviously, not all the sharks in Western Australian waters have been tagged, so “no tweet” doesn’t necessarily equal “no shark.” Since sharks move around a lot, the scientists are going to have to keep tagging them. Finally, in spite of recent statistics, sharks rarely attack humans, so a shark alert doesn’t necessarily mean eminent danger. Still, knowledge is power, and who wouldn’t want to know when there’s a great white lurking out there in that cool, emerald blue water. It’s not a perfect system, but it looks like it’s going to be more effective than spotting sharks by air and then broadcasting shark reports hours or even days later. So, have fun at the beach, and watch out for social media’s most savvy sharks on the @SLSWA Twitter feed. Make your own choices, but be safe.