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The ‘Michael Jackson Effect’ on the Internet

June 26th, 2009 posted by · 2 Comments

Michael Jackson Tribute Banner

The world is still trying to let the news of Michael Jackson’s passing yesterday sink in, and part of that coping process is to share their thoughts on the King of Pop. Yesterday as news broke about MJ, Twitter, AIM, Facebook and MySpace all experienced overloads and temporarily slowed down.

After L.A. Times followed TMZ’s lead in confirming Jackson’s death, their website was down briefly as the server couldn’t handle the swarm of traffic. But it’s now becoming evident that the web beats TV when it comes to breaking news, as was the case yesterday with this article from the L.A. Times.

Already on YouTube, thousands of videos have been uploaded overnight with memorials, tribute songs and personal reflections from fans all over the world. It’s no doubt sad news, but at the same time, it’s a celebration of Jackson’s life, as so many are loading up their old LPs from the 70’s and enjoying his music all over again.

Even MJ’s personal YouTube channel has seen a sudden influx in video views, which is understandable. I watched almost every video available there last night.

The biggest spike though as far as social media goes was on Twitter. 22.6% of all tweets being sent out were Michael Jackson related in the hours leading up to and following his death. Take a look at this chart courtesy of Mashable.com:

Michael Jackson Tweets

Meanwhile, those who purchased tickets to Jackson’s London tour, which was set to begin in July, are wondering what will happen with their tickets. Several websites where tickets were purchased from are issuing statements right now that they are aware of the situation, but do not have further information at this time on how to obtain a refund.

Related: Jackson dies, almost takes Internet with him

Related: The Web Collapses Under The Weight Of Michael Jackson’s Death



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2 Comments so far
  1. Webmaster MyAvatars 0.2
    June 27th, 2009 at 7:29 am

    hmm, it does seem like celebrity news takes over from important news in many cases but …

    RIP Jako, I liked your music.

  2. Gerri MyAvatars 0.2
    June 27th, 2009 at 6:22 pm

    Webmaster, very true, the news of MJ’s death took over just about everything else for a day or two and he is still very much a hot topic. It just goes to show how much of an influence on the world.