How Michael Jackson's Death Broke the Internet

Michael Jackson passed away from apparent cardiac arrest at the age of 50 on June 25, 2009.  He was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center and was pronounced dead two hours later around 2:30 PM PST.  On July 7, 2009, a particular memorial was held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and broadcast around the world.  Performers such as Mariah Carey, Usher and Shaheen Jafargholi took part in paying tribute to Jackson's memory.  While the Jackson saga was playing out on the news and elsewhere, the Internet experienced a significant slowdown as social networking proved just how powerful his life was as it came to an end.

Several web sites began to be overloaded by the news of Michael Jackson being rushed to the hospital.  Social networking sites, such as Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, became inundated with the news.  As more news began becoming available, these sites were utilized in spread it to people who may not have heard, may not been near a TV or had access to the Internet.  The more users logging in at the same time, the larger the server load is for those sites which causes them and the web to slow down.  CNN, the Los Angeles Times, TMZ, Wikipedia, Twitter and Perez Hilton's web sites were all affected by the crunch.  The Los Angeles Times web site crashed in its entirety, and Twitter was down for a half hour period once Jackson was pronounced.

Unfortunately, an Internet slowdown cannot be prevented.  It can, however, be rerouted.  When one site goes down, users will begin to visit another and the cycle will continue.  While many Internet users think the web has an infinite amount of resources, those resources are only as good as the servers keeping these sites up and running.  Once the resources run out, so, too, does the Internet.  The more people hopping on during a breaking news story such as this, the quicker the slowdown and meltdown of the Internet occurs.