Twsunami-mania

Today, a tsunami, predicted to hit the Hawaiian islands – the after-effect of an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hitting Chile hours earlier, killing hundreds – came up quite a bit short of its forecasted strength. Water levels overall barely rose a few feet. Instead, the "titanic wave" produced by the earthquake, came in a surge of web traffic to major (and minor) web media outlets of onlookers awaiting visuals of the anticipated event.

This "virtual tsunami" became something of an odd phenomenon (one of many we've seen in the wake of natural disasters or crises, combined with the increasing popularity of this newer conversational/interactive news coverage.) People were actually looking for their own "off-the-beaten-path" news source, not just following CNN, KTLA, FOX, etc., but accessing a variety of live video coverage on the web, surf-cams, Ustream footage, Skype - you name it. I, the jilted journalist, was surprised by people actually reaching out, creatively, for their own feed of info, not just having it "fed" to them. 

I myself, followed the whole brouhaha on Ustream. What made that particular coverage so unique was the stream of Twitter, Facebook, Myspace and other social media posts from web-watchers, commenting and providing additional information of the incoming tsunami alongside the broadcast. People who had specifically signed up to become a part of that channel's feed.

It seemed that the live video coverage could hardly keep up with the rush of information flooding in from all over the world - updates on the receding of water from the shoreline, water buoy readings of dropping water levels miles out from the coast, even minute-by-minute countdowns from people around the world on when the wave was supposed to hit. 

You don't get more realtime than that! Matter of fact, I found myself getting bored because the slated event itself, could not keep up with the flood of news predicting its arrival. I heard people screaming with their fingers on a keyboard how the reef was showing, the reef was showing...

I watched an onslaught of information, shout-outs, predictions, countdowns, prayers, admonitions, the occasional phishing scheme, and even marketing ploys filing down the right hand side of my screen. The coverage far exceeded the excitement due this disappointing natural non-disaster. 

100% FAIL for the tsunami = an ironic 10% WIN for Hawaii, 90% WIN for Social Media and New News. 

I'm sure there's more to be said, but I'll leave it for someone else to say today, my mind is fried.  

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Posted via email from Kellyfornia on the state of... well, things.