Websites Crash as Fans Express Shock on Michael Jackson’s Death
Between 2.40pm and 3.15pm Pacific time on the day Michael Jackson died, Google had a Search Volume index that had peaked to dizzying heights. Many internet sites crashed due to a constant barrage of curious fans, confirming if their idol had indeed died.
Google told the BBC that it was under the impression that they had been on the receiving end of a cyber attack. They had promptly put up messages warning users who typed “Michael Jackson” that their search request was similar to a virus generated request.
Twitter too experienced problems of its own when it crashed after it got overcrowded with users from all over the world. Tweets with “Michael Jackson” were recorded to be more than 66,500, according to the BBC. Also, web analysts, Trendrr calculated that approximately 100,000 Tweets containing “Michael Jackson” surfaced each hour just before the site went under. Wikipedia also suffered difficulties when its editors could not manage to update the details related to the star and his tragic passing.
The average broadband speed for downloading a news site increased from four seconds to nine seconds and the availability of the sites too fell from about hundred per cent to 86 per cent, according to Shawn White, director of external operations, Keynote Systems. Keynote reported that websites like CNN, MSNBC, AOL, CBS, and Yahoo were also having similar difficulties.
