Twitter Beats News To Hudson River Plane Crash Broadcast

The scary news that stormed airwaves throughout the world yesterday wasn’t initially broadcasted on TV, but rather through a social media tool known as Twitter. As a plane leaving New York City’s LaGuardia Airport yesterday hit the skies a flock of birds got vacuumed into the plane’s jets forcing the plan to crash land. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, was piloting the plane and managed to land it in the heart of the Hudson River just as she would have landed on the tar-mat. This tremendously skillful landing saved absolutely every one of the 155 people aboard.

With people huddling on the wing of the plane, as it initially remained afloat, the first picture and caption was captured on a cell phone via a ferry passenger. Janis Krum was visiting New York on a business trip and immediately transferred her cell photo to her Twitter page reading “http://twitpic.com/135xa - There’s a plane in the Hudson. I’m on the ferry going to pick up the people. Crazy”. The crazy aspect of this story was the speed in which the photo and news was spread. Before the rescue teams even reached the plane, 7,000 Twitter users attempted to view the page at once and consequently crashed the site momentarily. After Twitter regained its equilibrium, a constant rate of 500 views per every 15 seconds took place for the next 15 minuets.

This story shows us all how important and relevant social media is in today’s world. Twitter is not only being used for personal use, but it’s gaining a tremendous amount of respect in the business world with its perks in search engine optimization (SEO). Companies such as Zappos.com and National Event Company are at the front of this emerging trend/tool in their rightful industries. With the ability to send news through Twitter and have it seen by the masses before a rescue boat even arrived shows what power this networks really hold. We’re all going to just have to attempt to keep up with all the new social networks coming out and continue to keep open minds about all new forms of marketing.