Facebook users fire off Jackson comments
Facebook “update” messages were fired off at feverish rates, with comments tied to CNN Live video feeds peaking at 6 000 per minute.
“The 6 000 is just for CNN Live,” said Facebook marketing directory Randi Zuckerberg. “It is significantly higher than that when you factor in E! Online, ABC, and MTV which each have their own Facebook Connect implementations.”
Facebook users worldwide were sharing updates and thoughts while watching free streaming video of the memorial at CNN Live, ABC, and E! Online websites.
Facebook reported that 759 000 Facebook users watched the memorial event online at CNN Live, with 87 000 others opting for E! Online and 97 000 viewing video feeds at ABC websites.
Approximately 21 000 Facebook members watched the memorial online at MTV, according to the popular California-based online social-networking service.
“The most interesting thing is how many people are writing in internationally,” Zuckerberg said, referring to Facebook updates from Switzerland, Israel, Britain and Barbados.
“The inauguration was certainly a US centered event, and the Jackson memorial seems to have a huge international presence.”
Facebook posts during the memorial included a user identified as Elycia Cook of Japan saying “I am at work in my MJ T-shirt trying to get something done between the tears and popping in and off of CNN.”
Another Facebook user theorized that in many parts of the world, “nothing will be getting done right now.”
Facebook rival MySpace also streamed the memorial event online, but viewer figures were not immediately available.
Online video news traffic in the United States, Europe, and other places around the globe surged above normal during the memorial, according to Akamai Technologies which specialises in delivering data online.
At times nearly four million people per minute were watching the event streamed online, Akamai said in postings at Twitter.
“We expected it to be a large global event online and planned accordingly,” said Akamai spokeswoman Helen Yang.
The same technology used to stream CNN coverage of US President Barack Obama’s inauguration – Facebook Connect – allowed people to watch the Jackson memorial in CNN Live video players.
Facebook status updates, essentially brief posted thoughts at given moments, related to the inauguration peaked at 8,000 per minute at the start of Obama’s swearing-in ceremony.
A total of 1.8 million Facebook status updates containing the word “Obama” were sent on the day he was inaugurated, according to Facebook.
Facebook & Michael Jackson discussion
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