The Balloonboy story on Twitter

October 15, 2009 by niallhannon 1 Comment

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….

Balloonboy story on twitter

Balloonboy story on twitter

This is what “Web 2.0″ is all about and it will be interesting to see how this progresses over the coming months and years both from a personal and business point of view. Do not get left behind!

Filed under Social Media, twitter Tagged with ,

Social Media: U2 opening night

June 30, 2009 by niallhannon Leave a Comment

U2 opened their 360 Tour in Barcelona just 30 minutes ago (as I write this it is 21:30 on June 30th). You will probably see it in the news tomorrow or read it in the paper in the morning. But why wait?

If you don’t appreciate the power of social media just check out what I could easily access between 21.00 and 21.15 this evening, just minutes after the concert started.

Videos

I found a link on twitter to the first video 6 minutes after the show opened. It was taken from a mobile phone and sound quality while not the best gives you a good sense of the occasion.

u2 video

u2 video

 

Real Time Pictures

There is a constant stream of new photos being uploaded on twitcaps.com

u2 on twitcaps

u2 on twitcaps

 

Real Time Chat (from twitter)

Here are just some samples from twitter from people at the concert and following it themselves on twitter.

u2 on twitter

u2 on twitter

This is amazing stuff. People are closer than ever before, information is real time and to think I remember the very first day I used the “internet” in college back in 1996.

Filed under Social Media, u2 Tagged with ,