25th June 2009 (26th in Australia), a day that won’t soon be forgotten. The death of Michael Jackson, the undisputed King of Pop, sent hundreds of thousands of people around the world to the internet to try and find out the truth… was the superstar really dead.
I was on my way to work when I read the news on my iPhone that he had been rushed to hospital after suffering cardiac arrest. As usual my first move was to post the news on Twitter and see what others were saying. People were claiming Michael Jackson had died, but I tried not to believe it until I had seen it confirmed on one of the major news outlets. It wasn’t long before confirmation was made and I had friends and family calling to share the news and their empathy. I had purchased tickets to see Michael Jackson’s concert in London.
I had initially tried not to get my hopes up too much, as I didn’t think he would be able to complete the very lengthy tour in front of him and I had tickets to a show on 30th August 2009 (over a month after his would be first concert). As time was nearing the concert date I couldn’t help but look forward to seeing such an iconic figure perform some of the greatest music ever made. This was unfortunately not meant to be, instead we spent the day at work listening to Michael Jackson tracks, trying to ignore the joke emails already being sent around, and trying to plan what we would now do on the night we were supposed to be at the concert.
The hours during and after the announcement of MJ’s death it was almost futile trying to use Twitter, as people flooded the micro-blogging site with messages of the death and news sites around the world were receiving more traffic than they ever had before. Approximately 30% of posts on Twitter were about Michael Jackson during the hour of his passing. The news spread massively all over the internet, especially on Facebook. Yahoo! stated that they received their highest ever visits to their news sites, even higher than during the presidential election. This is the impact his music had on the world.
Let us not forget Farrah Fawcett who passed away on the same day. Not to mention the rumors of Jeff Goldblum’s demise, which is one of the major reasons blogs and social media sites have not reached the level of trusted media in society. Having said that, the Jeff Goldblum story was also spread on channel 9 in Australia without being confirmed. One of the reasons I didn’t want to believe Michael Jackson had passed away until it had been confirmed by several news sources.
It was unfortunate to see the rapid spread of jokes throughout the day. Obviously Michael Jackson wasn’t in the spotlight for the best of reasons in his later years, but it’s up to the individual how he will be remembered. For me, he will be remembered for his music.
“I can’t stop crying over the sad news. I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats, but his music will live on forever! My heart goes out to his three children and other members of his family. God bless.” - Madonna
Michael Jackson’s tribute song, Better On The Other Side - http://cli.gs/mjtribute
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June 27th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
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June 28th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Well said!
June 28th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Well said!
July 4th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
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