May 2, 2011

Osama's Death On Twitter--Real and Fake

Osama Bin Laden was killed yesterday in a U.S. raid on his compound in Pakistan.  The top secret military action, though, was actually tweeted about for the world to read....except that no one knew exactly what it was at the time.  An IT consultant on vacation near Bin Laden's hideout unwittingly tweeted about the attack as the helicopters circled above....you can read his tweets on the Washington Post website.

In other Twitter-related news, following in the footsteps of that escaped snake from the Bronx Zoo, there is now a GhostOsama user (pictured here) that popped up last night shortly after the big news hit the airwaves at 10:45pm.   I found this stream last night around 11:30pm as I was following reactions on Twitter and Facebook....a lot more interesting than watching the networks I have to say.  Anyway, in less than 24 hours, the silly-sounding ghost of OBL has racked up nearly 40,000 followers.  Sample tweet: 70 Virgins Left...I need a cigarette and a nap. LOL.

Joking aside, the death of this mass murderer has been a long time coming and,in New York today, there is a general sense of communal relief.