The Jackson Effect
The unexpected death of Michael Jackson was a news story that broke first on the Internet. It showed that whilst the web can send a headline around the planet in seconds, people still need traditional news services when more substance is required.
I first read the news about Michael Jackson on a news service website, about an hour before it appeared as confirmed news on the BBC, and it seems that a great many people also read first reports this way. Most sites carrying the breaking news referenced the TMZ gossip site which was the first to report that Jackson had been found unconscious in his home. Not surprisingly, the TMZ site crashed under the weight of traffic as people visited the site to read the report for themselves.
TMZ wasn't the only site to buckle under the strain. Twitter's search facility was reportedly overloaded with Jackson enquiries which accounted for 22% of all messages posted, whilst Google's defensive systems flagged up a possible automated attack due to the sudden surge of searches for Jackson related news which, in a period of about 30 minutes, made up 36% of all of Google's USA-based user queries. Meanwhile, at Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia which anyone can edit, contributors were falling over each other trying to update the Jackson page with latest status reports and rumours. A more authoritative source of news, the BBC, reported its news pages had seen a 48% increase in traffic in the hours following Jackson's death.
When Princess Diana was killed in Paris, the web was still in its infancy, and during both 9/11 and the London bombings, every TV channel was giving continuous coverage to events as they unfolded. The death of Michael Jackson is probably the first time a major global news story has stress tested the internet.
Sadly, as with all major news stories, the darker side of humanity emerges. Just eight hours after the initial news reports, our spam filters had blocked automated postings to web forms with messages such as "I can't believe it, Michael Jackson is dead" which tried to catch people off guard and lure them to sites containing all manner of malware. Similarly, spams supposedly offering secret photos of Jackson appeared later in the week. Just as distasteful were the reports of ghoulish profiteers attempting to sell funeral tickets on E-bay for four figure sums.
Looking ahead, it is only a matter of time before 419 scammers attempt to use Jackson's death to defraud people. 419 scammers increasingly claim to be solicitors managing the estate of people killed in plane crashes, terrorist acts or natural disasters, and supply URLs to new stories on reputable news sites naming these people as a way of making their story seem more plausible. These fraudsters must have been rubbing their hands with delight when "Where's Michael hidden his cash" appeared on the front cover of News of the World.
22nd July 2009
This article comes from the SKILLZONE email newsletter, published monthly since January 2008, and covering topics related to technology and the internet. All articles and artwork in the SKILLZONE newsletter are orignal content.