With the memorial for Michael Jackson happening in just a few minutes, this writer wonders whether the Web can handle the World Wide traffic that is certain to ensue for the length of the program.
It’s said that his death almost took the Internet with him, since everyone and their mother leapt online to find out the details and whether TMZ’s timely post was accurate or just jumping the tabloid gun paparazzi style.
The Staples Center in L.A., where the memorial is taking place, ensured its site could handle all the traffic from fans registering in hopes of being selected in a lottery-style drawing for tickets to see MJ’s memorial in person. That this was even a concern is an amazing testament to the popularity of Jackson’s music and existence. It reported 500 million hits in the first 90 minutes. 500 million. Let that sink in. If I had a dollar for every hit…
I know this is an unpopular opinion and this is in no way meant to be disrespectful to the departed star, but personally I was more bummed to hear of Billy Mays’ death. I loved watching that guy and genuinely felt the urge to buy whatever product he was projecting at me during those late night infomercials.
But the fact remains, the level of Jackson’s world-wide, dare I say universal, popularity is untouchable. I can’t think of another celeb… well, maybe Elvis, maybe… who has so obviously touched so many hearts, mine included, though I’m not lining up or buying tickets or even planning to watch the live feed online. I definitely won’t be tweeting or updating my status to reflect my pseudo involvement or long-shot six-degrees-of-separation connection.
That makes me and probably about 2 other people who are planning to be off the grid. This is obviously a huge media event; it will be interesting to see what happens, not only to honor and remember Jackson but to also test the boundaries of this virtual world’s infrastructure.
In other news: violence is erupting in China and armed mobs are causing havoc; President Obama is in Russia and our two countries are discussing a long-anticipated partnership; there was a coup down in Honduras a while ago and U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is over there talking to ousted President Zelaya; and the Pope has denounced the profit-at-all-cost mentality we as consumers and non-CEO people have thus been subjected to and proposed an ethical financial order.
Image Source: roger-norheim.blogspot.com
