No wonder so many mainstream media organizations are bewildered and scared of social media.

In a sign that social networking is replacing traditional media for news sources for many individuals – particularly younger ones – microblogging site Twitter (News - Alert) was, well...a-twitter...with the news of British singer Amy Winehouse's death a full hour before the story was was announced on mainstream media Web sites, reported Tech Digest.

A little over an hour after London police found Winehouse's body in her Camden Square north London apartment, the news was traveling throughout Twitter's network. The news became Twitter's number one trending topic, representing 10 percent of all tweets worldwide (which translates to about 20 million Twitterers).

The troubled 27-year-old Grammy-winning singer and popular celebrity tabloid target died Saturday. The cause of her death remains undetermined, though she reportedly had a well documented history of drug abuse, depression and eating disorders.

Since the announcement of her death, a number of celebrity friends, including Kelly Osbourne, Lady Gaga Rihanna, Jessica Alba, Ashton Kutcher, and Kate Moss, have also used Twitter to communicate their grief and memorials to fans.

Not everyone was using Twitter to remember Winehouse for sentimental reasons, however. Microsoft (News - Alert) was forced to apologize for a tasteless Tweet that encouraged fans to remember the singer by purchasing her last album on Zune, the company’s entertainment marketplace, reported Mashable. The company later said it was sorry for offending fans who thought the plug was inappropriate.

“Apologies to everyone if our earlier Amy Winehouse ‘download’ tweet seemed purely commercially motivated,” said a Microsoft spokesperson. “Far from the case, we assure you.”

Officials are saying autopsy results on Winehouse may be released as early as today.

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