Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications
    • IT Management
    • Networking

    Michael Jackson’s Death Causes Web Traffic Surge

    By
    Nicholas Kolakowski
    -
    June 26, 2009
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

      Traffic to both news and social-networking sites spiked following the death of Michael Jackson on the afternoon of June 25.

      The Los Angeles Times reported that its Website experienced a massive inflow of traffic, with some 2.3 million page views in one hour; simultaneously, the number of “tweets,” or 140-character messages posted on the social-networking site Twitter, increased twofold.

      Facebook’s traffic reportedly increased threefold as news of Jackson’s sudden death by unknown causes spread online; and at the New York launch party for the new Nokia N97 smartphone, guests stayed glued to their mobile devices while complaining that sites such as CNN.com and The New York Times were experiencing massive slowdowns.

      At its peak late on June 25, some 5,000 Jackson-related messages were zinging around Twitter, which temporarily disabled its Search and Trends features. The death of Farah Fawcett added additional pressure to the system.

      “Stepped off a 10hr flight to discover Twitter is essentially a wake for recently departed Michael Jackson,” Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, tweeted on the evening of June 25.

      Unlike the thousands of music fans who were rapidly gathering at that moment for impromptu memorials, however, Stone seemed relatively unaffected by the King of Pop’s moonwalk into the Great Beyond, at least if his next tweet was any indication: “A nice dinner at home and I’ll go to bed as soon as I catch up on ‘True Blood.'”

      Executives at AOL were probably less relaxed about the situation; the unexpected flood of traffic, coupled with a scheduled software update, knocked its AIM instant messaging service offline for 40 minutes during the afternoon.

      “Today was a seminal moment in Internet history. We’ve never seen anything like it in terms of scope or depth,” said a statement from AOL.

      According to net usage monitor Akamai, global visitors to online news sites spiked at more than 4.2 million visitors per minute between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. EST on June 25, with 3.5 million of those visitors from North America.

      However, those numbers were far below the highest peak for online news consumption, which came on Nov. 4, 2008 at 11 p.m. EST, when 8.57 million visitors per minute were tracking Barack Obama’s election.

      Nicholas Kolakowski
      Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×