The Death of Michael Jackson: New Media Broke the Story, Old Media OK’d It

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The death of pop icon Michael Jackson is dominating the web right now. TMZ broke the story, went down under the strain, but is back up now. Meanwhile, various sites and tweets talk about Twitter getting some fail whales and massive traffic spikes, which isn’t all that surprising after all. The King of Pop has been in the limelight for so long, it is just huge. At a time, the trending topics on Twitter was more or less exclusively dominated by his death, with people forgetting all about Iran for a little while at least.

People rush to Jackson’s Facebook page, currently sporting 880 991 fans, but expect that number to grow tremendously. Facebook overall is performing sluggishly now, possibly due to the artist’s death. It will be interesting to follow up on traffic spikes and surges later on. Meanwhile, I’m surprised to see that michaeljackson.com is still up and working, but then again it it’s just a simple HTML page with a Sony Music statement.

TMZ might have broken the story, and Twitter is full of discussion, anger, salutations, grief, and slandering, but old media managed to prevail anyway, despite being late to the show. The following quote is from Eat Sleep Publish, which pretty much sums up the media landscape for the masses right now:

Michael Jackson wasn’t, as far as I could tell, widely considered dead until the LA Times independently reported that doctors had pronounced him dead.

It’s not true until I say it’s true. That’s power.

True, for now at least. That’s something to think about.

But that’s for another day. Let’s remember the King of Pop by listening to his music, or at least by keeping it classy (I’m looking at you, Perez Hilton). The circus that was his life wasn’t about all the media nonsense, and it is a shame that Jackson wasn’t able to wrap up his career with the 50 (!) sold out shows in London.

1958-2009. Rest in peace Michael Jackson.

Author: Thord Daniel Hedengren

Thord Daniel Hedengren is a designer, writer, and blogger, and also the former editor of The Blog Herald. He used to be a hotshot in the gaming industry in Sweden, but sold everything and went International. Most recently he wrote a book called Smashing WordPress: Beyond the Blog, and does loads of kickass design.

Comments

  4. Chris R. says

    I am in shock. I have followed Michael since I was about 13 years old (he was 9). The first time I saw him perform was on the Ed Sullivan show and I was hooked on his music. I have followed his career, and his fortunes/misfortunes, and find his death to be an unfortunate loss as his young age.

    Michael will be missed dearly. This is a tragic loss.

  6. Fred says

    Michael Jackson will be greatly missed, but his music will live on! Check out this tribute to him….awesome is all I can say. We’ll miss you Michael.

  7. emma says

    i love michael jackson , i miss u , won’t forget ur sound ;(( i really miss him….

  8. Ina Marie says

    I grew up listening to Michael Jacksons music and I loved it and admired his talent, I am greatly saddened by his unexpected and sudden death…my condolenses to his family,may he rest in peace…he was greatly loved and will certainly be missed…

  9. Ina Marie says

    I grew up listening to Michael jacksons music and I loved it and admired his talent…I am deeply saddend by his unexpected and sudden death…the world has lost a great talent and a gentle soul…my condolonses to his family, may he RIP…

  10. jodie says

    I think the whole worlds addicted to the drama
    Only attracted to the things that bring you trauma
    Most of us only care about money makin
    Selfishness got us followin the wrong direction
    Wrong information always shown by the media
    Negative images is the main criteria
    Infecting their young minds faster than bacteria

  11. rhea khana says

    Aku sangat menyayangimu Michael Jackson … lebih dari yang kau tahu. Dan, aku akan selalu mengingat semua keindahan yang pernah kau berikan pada ku (kami). Doaku selalu untuk mu, dan kau akan aku tempatkan dalam hatiku yang paling dalam.

    I Love You 4ever, my superstar …