What is erupting right now as I write is an unconfirmed news story that Michael Jackson has died from a heart attack after being rushed to hospital. For all the many tweets and Facebook status updates, it wasn’t clear what the truth was behind the story. Was he actually dead or was he in a serious condition in hospital.
A small online news website broke the “MJ is dead” news story first and set the whole thing on fire, but nobody in the major news outlets confirmed it. This left the many people on Facebook and Twitter contributing to the mass hysteria, effectively running around like headless chickens shouting “is he dead” which quickly turned to “he’s dead” even before it was acknowledged or confirmed but someone reputable.
This kind of online mass hysteria is interesting to observe due to the velocity at which it gets out of control. Twitter users Retweet one another, Facebook users comment and make their minds up based on their social circles. But what if the sources are wrong? You get the biggest false news story ever, thanks to the social microphone.
So I’ve been writing this post for the past 10 minutes, in between checking CNN.com, BBC.com, Twitter and Facebook and am still yet to know who is right. Here is the verdict as of (1522 PST)
Twitter: MJ is dead - (search “Michael Jackson”)
Facebook News Feed: Mixed – death/unconfirmed death
CNN.com – heart attack, unconfirmed death
BBC.con – hear attack, unconfirmed death
Let’s see what happens…
[Update]
RIP Michael Jackson