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Heads up: Your Twitter timeline might be a bit overwhelming today.
Last night, traffic on the site spiked to more than 4,000 tweets per second during President Obama’s speech announcing the death of Osama bin Laden, according to Twitter’s official PR account. “9/11 widow on my flight. In tears. Comforted by entire cabin. Life altering event to see,” read one of those tweets. Meanwhile, on the ground, there were Twitpics of passengers in the baggage claim area of JFK glued to the TV while Obama spoke and FDNY firefighters celebrating in Times Square; word being spread of spontaneous gatherings all over the country; and – of course – Photoshopped tributes to mark the occasion (please refer to this image of of Lady Liberty gripping bin Laden’s severed head and this one of Obama riding a unicorn while rainbows emanate from his hands).
But Obama isn’t the only one getting credit. “Let's all take this time to thank the one person who no doubt was behind the killing of Osama bin Laden: Jack Bauer,” tweeted one person. The fictional “24” hero quickly rose to a trending topic on Twitter. Other accolades included “Nice job with the whole Osama thing” and one woman first professing her love to Mr. Bauer, followed by “We couldn’t have done it without” him.
Uh… Kidding, right? We’ll just assume she’s taking that joke really far.
The celebration extended beyond bin Laden’s death: “Well, at least this’ll put an end to f’in Royal Wedding talk,” said one person. “A prince gets married, the bad guy is dead. It’s a real Disney weekend here on earth,” posted another.
Then there’s the man who lives in the Pakistani town where Osama was killed who accidentally tweeted the news after hearing a loud bang: “Uh oh, now I’m the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it,” @ReallyVirtual later tweeted. Hours - and apparently multiple media inquiries – later, he tweeted, “Bin Laden is dead. I didn’t kill him. Please let me sleep now.”
And what live event would be complete without a little snark? Viewers and readers everywhere were more than happy to point out which news organizations confused "Osama" and "Obama" in their headlines - and which sites just made typos, period (Fox News "Confriming that Usama Bin Landen" is dead still gets the message across, don't you agree?).
For a timeline of how it all unfolded on Twitter, click here.
For moments when you need the Internet equivalent of a pinch to make sure you're not dreaming, click on IsOsamaBinLadenDead.com.
Leave a Comment:
I've seen it spelled both "Osama" and "Usama". Personally I always preferred "Usama" because that way his name starts with "USA". I bet that always made him really really mad.
clever!!!
Did anyone read Tom Clancy's latest Jack Ryan thriller, Dead Or Alive? The similarities are kind of creepy.
Nice try Faux News! Putting Obama's name in front of Osama bin Laden's. Classic misdirect and nice use of subliminal advertising.
Isn't it amazing that a "world class" news organization that purports to be fair and balanced can't afford an editor. I guess they spend too much money on bleach and silicone to worry about that pesky grammer thingy.
LMAO when I read the tweet from the person stating that it has been a real Disney Weekend "The prince gets married and the bad guy is dead"
I love the usa, after almost 10 years that s.o.b. is dead, and this shows that no matter what happens we don't give up and we will succeed. 2011 is a great years so far, he's dead, the economy starts to grow and obama is gone in 1.5 years.
And i just have to say to all the democrats, it's not obama who is responsible for that, it's general petreaus and the men and women who served our nation honourly in this long war.
Ridiculous, useless story.
From 9/11 to Bin Laden's death is one long chapter that's finally closed. Which means, of course, other chapters will follow. The book's not finished.
This is a time for AMERICANS. Not blacks, not whites, not anyone of any specific race, gender, sexual preference, political standing......not a time for any of these things that are nothing but an argument anyway.
It is a time for AMERICANS, because of our military who have died, watched buddies die, left their families to go fight. It is a time for AMERICANS because in Bush's Presidency he did not take the attack by bin Laden lying down, we fought. In Obabma's Presidency, we got him. I am proud of both of these men for their part. I don't take anything from them. But it is our militay, and how can we make them proud? How can we make them know that what they done is appreciated?
It is time for AMERICANS to pull together for once in this country and rejoice but don't let our guard down. This is not the end of this. We have to know that. It is not a time for this country to fight amongst ourselves about who gets credit. Whether we like our current President or whether we don't is not of importance. The important issue is that black people, white people, red people, yellow people, democrats, republicans, gays, lesbians, ALL AMERICANS pull together and make this country impenetrable.
We only weaken ourselves with our petty arguments.
Our own personal beliefs is not the issue. Stand up, stand tall, stand proud, trust your neighbor and have his back, knowing that he has yours.
All this bickering about whether you like Obama or not is tearing away from the importance of what is to come.
Our military men and women are not dying for this. Give them hope. Let them know that America, and we as Americans, can appreciate what they have done and are doing. Let them know that Americans can band together and make this nation strong. Don't allow the fallen to have died in vein.
Quit arguing and talk about what we have to do now!
More likely we have Chuck Norris to thank!
Jack Bauer def wouldn't not have taken 10 years!
of course not... 24 was only on for 8 seasons. :D
Abbotabad, abbota-bing!
A silly and air-headed take on the matter.
What's more ridiculous, useless, silly and air-headed? An obvious fluff piece or the people commenting on the story calling it ridiculous, useless, silly and air-headed?
I was listening to Fox News on the radio and the guy kept saying that Obama is dead. And then complained that Obama was late his own announcement. I was very confused. He rarely siad Osama correctly. And it was really funny that the guy claimed that one of the differences between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans are always on time for their news conferences and Democrats are always late. I guess Fox has to find some way to put a negative spin on the whole story.
The reason I commented about the article's silliness is that it is taking up space on a major news outlet. Certainly there are many important issues to report on, and this is just dumb fluff. MSNBC should and can do better.
I'm tired of infotainment from major media outlets.
Have you just started reading the news? It's always been like that.
Sorry, Kristoff, but despite you and msnbc's best efforts to portay otherwise, I spotted the "Obama" instead of "Osama" mistake 2 times each on msnbc.com and foxnews.com, and 1 time on cnn.com yesterday. I guess msnbc and cnn did it on purpose too?
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Jack Bauer owes us 47 hours, 19 minutes ...