The news of pop icon Michael Jackson's collapse and subsequent death sent ripples across the Web on Thursday afternoon, affecting numerous services and sparking yet another spam campaign. Twitter, Google, Facebook, various news sites, and even iTunes were practically crushed under the weight of the sudden spike in Internet traffic. The phenomenon may not be new on an individual level, but combined across services, it was truly one of the most significant in recent memory.
When news first broke that the Jackson had collapsed in his home, Twitter was immediately abuzz. There were several points when the Ars staff observed between 6,000 and 13,000 new tweets per minute mentioning Michael Jackson before Twitter began to melt down—all before anyone other than TMZ.com was reporting his death. Of course, most of us are intimately familiar with the famed Fail Whale at this point, though Twitter's meltdown was mostly reflected in a major slowing of the service and the inability to send new tweets.
In fact, Twitter cofounder Biz Stone told the L.A. Times that the news of Jackson's passing caused the biggest spike in tweets per second since the US Presidential Election. (Similarly, Facebook—also known as Wannabe Twitter—saw a spike in status updates that was apparently three times more than average for the site, though a spokesperson said the site remained free of performance issues.)
Google, on the other hand, began receiving so many searches for news about Jackson that it caused the search engine to believe it was under attack. The site went into self-protection mode, throwing up CAPTCHAs and malware alerts to users trying to find news. A Google spokesperson described the incident as "volcanic" compared to other major news events, confirming that there was a service slowdown for some time.
The spammers have come out in droves as well (never assume that someone isn't working on a way to instantaneously exploit the death of a major celebrity). Security researchers at Sophos put up a warning this morning saying that the first wave of spam messages has gone out claiming to have "vital information" regarding Jackson's death. There doesn't appear to be any call to action or URL, but is meant as a way to harvest e-mail addresses if recipients make the mistake of replying. We're sure this trend will continue in the coming days, not just about Michael Jackson, but also actress Farrah Fawcett (who also passed earlier in the day on Thursday), and former Tonight Show sidekick Ed McMahon.
Finally, Apple's iTunes Store appeared to experience some slowdowns upon the confirmation of Jackson's passing, though the service has been running smoothly since. Users, however, are paying (literally) tribute to MJ, as several of Jackson's hit singles are climbing into the iTunes Top 10, including "Man In the Mirror," "Thriller," and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough." This is pretty impressive considering that he has made the list with three songs in less than 24 hours, competing with the likes of Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" (which has been close to the top of the iTunes Top 10 for what seems like three millennia—seriously, please quit buying it so it goes away).
Coupled with news that fans have been gathering in cities across the US to perform the renowned (if not a bit morbid, all things considered) Thriller zombie dance, we can't help but feel as if the user-driven age of the Internet will keep his memory alive in ways that past music icons have not had. (Only a couple of Ars staffers—we're looking at you Bangeman and Timmer—are old enough to remember the passing of Elvis Presley in 1977, which dominated newspapers and TV for days afterwards.) YouTube even has a Michael Jackson spotlight on its front page right now, so if you're feeling nostalgic, head on over and check out MJ's smooth moves from the days of yore. R.I.P., King of Pop.
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