LianneFARBES

Okay not really, but almost right???  Last week we lost Michael Jackson, which in itself isn’t weird, everyone dies but this was so sudden and unexplained.  I think everyone thought it was a hoax at first, especially since Farrah Fawcett had just passed that morning. It may not have been such a big deal if it wasn’t Michael freaking Jackson.  A superstar,  a recluse, a legend. No matter how eccentric he was, everyone loved him including me.  I became a card carrying member of the Michael Jackson fan club when I was just 10 years old. I asked my mom to help me join and she obliged.  I remember the day I got the kit in the mail; the membership kit came with an ID card (which I put in my wallet of course) and an EXCLUSIVE mobile with his face that said, “Forever, Michael.” (Just like the album of the same name) which I immediately hung from the ceiling of my room.  I even had a letter that he signed asking me to be his soul-mate.  God, I wish I had those things now.  I was crushed to hear of his death, as were many others.  This is evident in the posthumous sales of his music catalog which have reached over $167K in just under a week as of this writing and that’s not even counting online sales for sites like iTunes and Amazon.  When rumors of his passing swirled, people wanted to know what was going on and they wanted to know right then and there.

Last week the CNN headline read, “Jackson dies, almost takes Internet with him.” Google, gossip blogs, MSNBC, CNN, Facebook, AOL and Twitter all experienced enormous volumes of traffic and huge lag times.  What I found to be interesting though was an exchange that I had with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on twitter.  Cooper tweeted, “Michael Jackson in cardiac arrest, slipped into a coma…” I tweeted back to him, “No dude, he’s dead…” How did I know before CNN?  I was reading TMZ because I couldn’t even get onto the CNN website to check the information.  It is quite bizarre to me that CNN (self dubbed, the world leader in news…) was out-scooped by Harvey Levin and the gang….a bunch of rogue tabloid bloggers not unlike Fred, Velma, Shaggy & Scooby.

Sasha Muradali who writes Little Pink Book wrote a great article on this phenomenon, imploring traditional media outlets to pay attention to sites like Twitter and Facebook (which some already have).  She says, “The internet is not going away..” and she is right, if anything it’s getting bigger and more important than ever.  The events of the past week are definitely a wake up call to most traditional media outlets to get it together. The internet has become a main source of communication and information to many people.  In fact, I get more information from the internet than I do the Television.  I haven’t used a phone book in over 6 years nor have I bought a newspaper either.  This new form of media is also great for the environment, no recycling necessary just turn on your laptop.

Image:  CNN

Lianne Farbes is the Head of the US Edition of HelloCotton an online social platform for discovering and sharing women’s blog content. She also writes for several online publications, she is a Beauty Expert, Social Media enthusiast, Project Manager, Web 2.0 cheerleader and she is always online in one form or another. Follow her on Twitter @LianneFarbes, @Hellocotton and friend her through any of her social profiles here and here

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Tags: Internet, Michael Jackson