#OSAMAISDEAD

#BREAKINGNEWSONTWITTER

THE MOST WANTED MAN in the world, Osama bin Laden, is dead! NEWSFLASH…it looks like the news broke out on Twitter.

This is why I simply love social media so much and can rightly excuse my growing addiction to it. From my perspective, as well as my drained out Iphone, this has been the most eventful weekend of 2011 so far, for social media networks and social media network nerds like myself.

Although it's back to reality tomorrow after the long break, in hindsight many will remember this momentous weekend for it's Disney-esque timeline of events, almost as though it had all been scripted. A wedding and a funeral has been sugar-coated and streamlined live from all over the world via Twitter and Facebook to our very own smart phones. What fascinates me about Twitter is the vast array and diversity of views and opinions from people all over the world, from all walks of life and backgrounds. Although still relevant to the topic at hand, some make sense and some are quite random and off-the-wall. It certainly makes a change from the views of stuffy politicians and authoritative figure heads.

The news of Osama's death was allegedly broken FIRST by an average tweeter in Pakistan, Sohaib Athar, an IT consultant living in Abbottabad. According to The Wall Street Journal, Athar, who tweets @ReallyVirtual, wrote yesterday that he saw a helicopter hovering over the city around 1am, which he said was a "rare event." Then: "A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S," he tweeted later. When news broke of Bin Laden's death, Athar wrote, "Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it."

Just reading through his twitter timeline, it looks as though he is getting hounded and inundated by thousands of Twitter users and news sources all wanting to speak to the man who broke the news. His latest tweet just reflects how Twitter can allow you to connect to (almost) anyone in the world, almost to the point of being suffocated by tweets! "Bin Laden is dead. I didn't kill him. Please let me sleep now."

As soon as I wake up, admittedly my first move is to always check Twitter on what or who is trending, because the chances are, a newsworthy event/person is always top of the trending list. Unless it's a really slow day for news, in which case something pointless or trivial is trending like #Ileftyoubecause or #youremyexbecause.

Instead of reading up on both of these massive news-worthy events via official news sites, I have actually followed both stories primarily through Twitter. Then confirm the tweets by having a read of the overall story on Sky News or BBC News via the very handy iphone news app's. Gone are the days where you need to wait for the evening newspaper to read up on the news roundup of the day. Now it's all pretty much instant wherever you are, no matter what time of day or night it is.

With the world and his wife on Twitter, it's easy to get instant, prominent updates of any views and opinions, along with the official headlines from official news sources like BBC News and Sky Breaking News, The Guardian or Time magazine.

From the beginning of President Obama's speech to the end, Twitter recorded more than 4000 tweets per second, the social media company reported. There are also claims that Keith Urbahn, chief of staff to former Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, broke the news first via Twitter an hour before Mr Obama addressed the nation. He tweeted: "So I'm told by a reputable person they have killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn." I still think the news was broken first by the guy who was more or less on Bin Laden's doorstep.

Then, only two hours after the news broke, a Facebook page titled 'Osama Bin Laden is DEAD' emerged. It had more than 250,000 users 'liking' the page. Seems like we're all logged onto Twitter/Facebook constantly.

Twitter is STILL flooded by constant tweets as the news, views and conspiracies unfold about this moment in history.

One tweet which will go down in history is the tweet from The White House - President Obama:

"I can report to the American people and to the world, that the US has conducted an operation hat killed Osama bin Laden."

Here is a tiny selection of some of the Osama related tweets I've come across so far. They convey anxiety, humour, patriotic attitudes, intelligence, rationality, suspicion and fear. Emotions from people like you and I, not guests on a news bulletin who are told to remain impartial. It is so addictive to read

tweet after tweet from the ordinary to the bizarre.

1. The awkward thingabout #osama is that nobody is telling you that Dora The Explorer was the one who finally found him...
2. It's weird to think that #osama and Hitler died at the same date... Coincidence much?
3. Cant believe how naive people are being to think this is the end cause #Osama has been killed. A can of worms has been opened now he's dead!
4. "If I am to die, I would like to be killed by the bullet," Bin Laden once said. The U.S. obliged him on Sunday
5. I reckon #obl left his GPS settings to 'ON' when he was tweeting, what a bitch!
6. My conspiracy senses are tingling over the #OBL thing. Something just doesn't feel right especially the timing.
7. Its Amazing what the Amercan's can do when the PS3 Network is Down.. #obl
8. REUTERS FLASH: CIA director Panetta says al Qaeda will "almost certainly" attempt to avenge bin Laden death.
9. RT @miilkkk Watch #Osama rise out of the ocean like Megatron in Transformers.
10. #Osama Bin Laden - Hide & Go Seek world champ (2001 - 2011)
11. I think they are not SURE if that was him for REAL so that is why they not showing his picture. #osama
12. Crowds, chaos and some closure: @kaylawebley takes in the scene at Ground Zero
13. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. If we are celebrating death, how much better are we than #osama?

& lastly, one from Charlie Sheen…

#"Dead or Alive. WE PREFER DEAD! Well done SEAL team! AMERICA: #WINNING that's how we roll."

So to sum it up, the crazy world of Twitter told the story of an ordinary girl marrying her Prince followed by the killing of the evil baddie followed by thousands of tweets from the relieved and joyous commoners. The End?