Okay Geek Farm
Saturday
Jun272009
How Michael Jackson's death shut down Twitter
Brandon DavenportThe internet came alive like never before as people around the world logged on to follow the stunning news of Michael Jackson's death.
The story created such a surge in online traffic that Google returned an 'error message' for searches of the singer's name as it assumed it was under attack.
And just seconds after the story broke on the American entertainment website TMZ.com, messages or 'Tweets' about the singer on the micro-blogging site Twitter doubled, leading to a temporary shutdown of the site.
This graph shows the surge in internet chatter about Michael Jackson on Twitter as reports came in that he had died
The number of Jackson tracks being listened to on the internet radio Last FM leaped following his death
