Evidence: Social Media and Osama's Death

In a post I made yesterday I talked about how I learned about Osama's death via Twitter and that a lot of my friends had also learned of his death via Twitter and/or Facebook. I just came across an article titled Turning to Social Media for News . This article talks about how when Osama died, the White House immidiately announced that Obama would shortly be addressing the nation. However, they failed to mention what the address would cover. CNN reporters were curious, and turned to social media cites to reveal the news. Just like myself and my friends, these reporters learned of Osama's death by logging onto their Facebook and Twitter pages. The article describes Facebook and Twitter as "early warning systems for breaking news."

This excerpt from the article perfectly sums up my argument on social media:

"Twitter saw the highest sustained rate of posts ever, with an average of 3,440 per second from 10:45 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Eastern time. There were more than five million mentions of Bin Laden on Facebook in the United States alone, as news of the raid at his hideout spread starting around 10:30 p.m."

Also, thanks to social media cites, I was able to see what was going on in DC and NYC. Twitter allows users to upload "Twit Pics," and several friends of mine studying in the DC and New York areas uploaded photos of all the American pride that emerged right after Osama's death was announced. Twitter allowed for me to feel as if I was right there in the middle of it all, when really, I was sitting in the library studying.