'Miracle on the Hudson' Twitpic changed his life By Christina Zdanowicz, CNN Updated 3:47 PM ET, Wed January 15, 2014

 US Airways Flight 1549 crash landed in

Krums, then 23, was on a commuter ferry rushing to rescue passengers of US Airways Flight 1549 after Capt. Chesley B. "" Sullenberger III gracefully landed the plane. He snapped a photo with his iPhone and posted it on .

"There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy," he posted on Twitpic, Twitter's photo sharing site, on January 15, 2009.

He only shared it with his 170 followers, but the photo spread quickly. Soon news networks started calling to interview him. His image was one of the earliest to appear after the landing.

"This may be among the most striking instances yet of instant citizen reporting," wrote the LA Times the day of the landing.

Krums' photo appeared on the front pages of newspapers. He was interviewed on national TV, and he said the moment changed his life. He became one of the first and best examples of citizen journalism going viral on Twitter. (And his Twitter following went from 170 to more than 10,000.)

These days, he is the CEO/co-founder of Opprtunity.com, a real-time professional discovery platform. Five years after the iconic photo, Krums shared with CNN how one photo changed his life. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. one of the passengers that we rescued. Once I got the phone back, I started to get text messages and calls from what seemed like every news outlet. The first call that I took was from MSNBC. I was very surprised that it went viral the way that it did. I posted to my 170 followers and did not send it to any news outlets. It was incredible to see the power of Twitter and how news can spread around the world in a matter of minutes.

CNN: Do you think the iconic Twitpic has specifically led to opportunities for you or contributed to your success? If so, how?

Krums: It's been a great story when I talk to people about technology. I've gotten some incredible opportunities to speak at such places as Columbia Journalism School and the Poynter Institute. I'm involved with technology, so I actually became an adviser to Rawporter.com. Their mission is to protect, promote and sell photos and videos from everyday people.