The Balloonboy story on Twitter

Twitter was taken over by the “ballonboy” story this evening, so much so that twitter crashed a number of times. The story was about a young boy who apparently climbed into a large homemade balloon which subsequently broke free from its tether. The balloon had been seen drifting thousands of feet in the air, travelling at up to 25mph.

It eventually landed but it was discovered the boy was not inside. As of this point in time the story is still developing and the boy is still missing.

The power of social media and twitter in particular is again something to admire. Literally thousands of “tweets” per second were pouring into twitter. Many were from people just following the story but some people posted up very useful links. For example, one person posted a link to a live audio feed of the Colorado State Patrol where you can listen to live updates of the search for the missing boy between the various police units.

Some sample tweets….