Remembering Michael Jackson

The News Frenzy Begins
On June 25, 2009 while having dinner during my vacation in Sanibel Island, Florida, I read on Facebook from my phone that Michael Jackson had died. Since FaceBook is not exactly a newsworthy source, I thought it was a joke and had to ask our waiter if it was true. Go figure, it was true because CNN was breaking the story on one of the TVs in the bar. I quickly turned to Twitter (from my phone) to see what people were tweeting about, and sure enough fail whale after fail whale I finally saw a post about MJ's death. A little later, I received a text message from my husband sending me the news that the "King of Pop" had died. Technology and all of the communication outlets that we have access to amazes me. It seems like we are always connected, no matter where we are.

The King Of Pop
Michael Jackson would never have crossed my mind as someone I would be posting about on this blog, but regardless of his personal problems and life tragedies that he endured, my generation will always remember the "King of Pop". When Michael Jackson went solo, his Off the Wall and Thriller albums took him to superstar status. The Thriller album came out during my teenage years and defined the 80's era. Michael Jackson's music and videos also helped catapult MTV into a mega-station. The Gloved One represented a time in the eighties that my generation remembers as the care-free, adventurous and happy-go-lucky teenage years. Do you all remember this time? We would spend hours watching MTV and looked forward to when the ground-breaking Thriller video would come on. I remember the rush of finally watching it! Don't you?

Gloved One Brings Down Internet

Also to be noted, for the first time in Internet history, the Web and other services experienced major outages. Unbelievably enough, the King of Pop, we found out yesterday, is all it took to bring down the Net. Yes, it took only one person to overload search engines, Twitter and many other web-based services. Everyone seemed to be looking and trying to confirm the death of one of the greatest entertainers of our generation.

Breaking the Story - Media vs. Social Media
And once again, it was Twitter and social media that echoed the breaking news to the masses. Although the site was up and down following the few hours of MJ passing away, TMZ is the news agency that got credit for breaking the news on his death.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend
Although Michael Jackson put up so many walls to seclude himself from the world he will always be remembered for breaking down barriers in music and on a social level. We all mourn his death, but his musical genius will live on as long as YouTube, Twitter and FaceBook are around. Long live the King of Pop!

RIP Michael Jackson
1958-2009

I couldn't resist, I am embedding one of the best music videos of all time, Thriller.

More Michael Jackson Links:

• Rock Hall Of Fame Inducts Michael Jackson
• The Official Michael Jackson You Tube Channel
• CNN Story On MJ Taking Down the Internet
• The Michael Jackson Store on Amazon

Remembering Michael Jackson