watch the video LMAO

At 11:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) on May 1st, 2011, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born founder of the jihadist terrorist organization al-Qaeda responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States. Following this announcement, both the mainstream media and internet began to run amok with floods of conversations and reactions to the news of bin Laden’s dead

According to Akamai (AKAM)², a content delivery network serving about 20% of the Internet’s content, news stories about bin Laden’s death reached its peak at more than 4.1 million pageviews per second on its client sites, which includes major publications like NYTimes, Reuters, BBC and USA Today.

Timeline: Early Developments

At 12:58 am local time on May 1st, 2011, IT Specialist Sohaib Athar (Twitter handle @ReallyVirtual) tweeted about a helicopter near his home in Abottabad, Pakistan. Following President Obama’s adress the next day, he became a topic of interest for ‘live-tweeting’ the raid on the mansion where Osama bin Laden was killed.¹

At 9:47pm (ET) on the same day, Dan Pfeiffer, communications director for the White House, tweeted an announcement about Obama Presdient’s national address scheduled at 10:30 pm. At 10:24pm, Keith Urbahn, chief of staff for the former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted: “So I’m told by a reputabe person they have killed Osama Bin Laden. Hot damn.”
At 10:25 pm, Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a The Rock) tweeted:

At 10:43 pm, President Obama tweeted: “About to address the nation. Watch live: http://w.gov/live.” At 11:00 pm, President Obama addresses the Americans at home via live broadcast.
At 1:09 am, Brian Anthony Hernandez posted an article on Mashable⁸, detailing a timeline of tweets posted and re-tweeted by Washington insiders and the news media.

Spread

Obama / Osama Confusion

After the news broke, several people mixed up “Obama” with “Osama” when reporting the news on various outlets. A headline on Fox News displayed “Reports: Obama Bin Laden Dead”. A screen grab was tweeted out shortly after by Twitter user @KyleHudgins that read “Great Job, Fox40! Classy.”⁷




In Washington, D.C. a Fox news anchor accidentally said “President Obama is, in fact, dead.”

MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell tweeted “Obama shot and killed”.

On Twitter

The news of Osama bin Laden’s death instantly spread across Twitter, setting a new record for the “highest sustained rate of Tweets ever” according to Twitter’s announcement on May 2nd⁹:

Last night saw the highest sustained rate of Tweets ever. From 10:45 – 2:20am ET, there was an average of 3,000 tweets per second."

At 11p.m. ET, there were 5,106 Tweets per second. At 11:45p.m. ET, when Pres. Obama finished his remarks, there were 5,008 tweets per second.

Latest Tweet Results #obl Lmarknyt RT @nytjim: Panetta says analysts were only 60 to 80 percent certain Bin Laden would be found at compound. http://wapo.st/lcTr3Y #obl #cia 39 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite DARE_TAIWO @gretawire #OBL is dead. What is turning out as a hoax is how he died. In a frenzy, WH lost control of the msg and muddled up the facts. 33 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite hrezuc OBVIO!! que Eric Holder, el fiscal general de USA iba a decir "la operación en Pakistán fue legal"... #OBL 24 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite NicheProfile RT @Tbgdgc: Doesn't #DNA testing take 2 weeks? How did they do it in an hour & buried #OBL dead body at sea? @AndersonCooper @AC360 @CNN 18 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite     more than 9 new tweets Debbie_Groarke RT @SBSnews: George W Bush turns down invite from Barack Obama to Ground Zero http://bit.ly/mv1lpl #OBL 41 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite mrjc1 liberals have no problem with the obvious contradictions and conflicts with their world view and the #OBL takedown. consciences seared #tcot 31 seconds ago · reply · retweet · favorite Join the conversation

Fake MLK Quote

After the announcement of Osama’s death, a quote incorrectly attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. began being passed around:

“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” --Martin Luther King Jr.

The quote actually comes from the Facebook status update shown below by Jessica Dovey. She prefaced the real MLK quote with her own thoughts, and the entire status update was mistakenly attributed to MLK. By the time it reached Twitter, only the first line was being tweeted “I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy,” but MLK never said this.¹⁰

On Facebook

Within two hours of news reports and Obama administration’s confirmation, a Facebook page titled “Osama Bin Laden is Dead”³ began to accumulate massive counts of upvotes and user-tagged photos, standing at 357k likes and over 600 related photos as of 1:30pm (ET) on May 2nd, 2011.

There is also another Facebook page titled “Bin Laden Ain’t Dead, He’s Chillin With 2Pac,”⁴ which shows a photoshopped image of the deceased rapper Tupac and Osama bin Laden exchanging a hand shake.

On Google Earth

Meanwhile, Google users began posting tongue-in-cheek reviews⁵ of the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the al-Qaeda leader was allegedly hiding before getting fatally shot by the U.S. forces:

Located in cozy, quiet neighborhood. Interrupted only occasionally by machine gun fire. Lacking in ameneties, but an up and coming area. Handyman special. One satellite phone available with smoking bullet hole for comms back home. CIA helicoptors offering complimentary air lift service for corpses. Great property to get away from it all. Must See!

- Submitted by Abril Joy ‎on May 2nd, 2011-