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Not since 9/11 has there been such a user rush to the internet as when news broke, then slowly trickled in about the condition and now death of pop legend Michael Jackson. I am a Michael Jackson fan and am shocked that he has died, and more so, by the speed at which information surrounding his death has become available.
However, unlike previous world news events, the is the first clear demonstration that user interest in a story can now in effect be measured and influenced by a person's hunger for information about a story using social media websites.
Web 2.0 sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube & Wikipedia groaned under the strain of users wanting to update, tweet, watch and learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. At one point, Youtube posted on their site that watching videos has been suspended, presumably due to excessive demand. Twitter became oversubscribed (which isn't that rare these days). Wikipedia strained not only from the barrage of hits to the Michael Jackson page but also as "Wiki-Editors" argued over edited and restored versions of the article stating at that point wether or not the King of pop had died as at the time, reports were still unconfirmed.
Whilst the number of people online grows and have the ability to access content whilst mobile, media organisations the world over are struggling to feed the public thirst for information about the most important stories. One of the problems they have is that a catch 22 now exists. Previously, we all received news via newspapers, TV and news websites. But, with the advent of blogging, tweeting, digging and all the other social media tools out there, the public in effect provide real-time surveys to news-room editors informing them about what we are interested. News outlets now feel obliged to report non-stop on whatever we are fixated on until our interest dies down instead of other things that might be more newsworthy.
Interestingly, I noticed these other events reported in the UK that have all been reported today that I reckon would have received far more exposure were it not for news agencies ability to respond to end-user demand for information about a particular story instantaneously: -
- The actress Farrah Fawcett has died at the age of 62 from cancer
- Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England has said that the banking crisis is easing
- "Tens of thousands of cases of swine flu could be emerging each week by the autumn, the chief medical officer says"
That last headline would normally have the tabloid press telling us to run for the hills and not to drink the tap water.
Still, it is us humble surfers that now decide what is news worthy....
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