TMCnet Feature

According to the Houston Chronicle, Whitney Houston’s death was announced on Twitter (News - Alert) at 4:15 p.m. PST Saturday, approximately 42 minutes before the Associated Press (News - Alert) released a report stating that Houston’s publicist had confirmed the death. The first tweet came from a niece of Houston’s hairstylist and claimed that her aunt was one of those on the scene when Houston was found dead in a bathtub.

“Omgg , my aunt tiffany who work for whitney houston just found whitney houston dead in the tub . such ashame & sad,” read the tweet from the hairstylist’s niece. The niece had to take some flack from the Twitterverse because of the large number of false reports of celebrity deaths that occur every day. “I swear on my life I would NEVER start a Twitter death,” the niece replied. “Whitney Houston is really gone.”

Another tweet that came before the AP wire release came from with the handle “Big Chorizo,” who stated, “My sources say Whitney Houston found dead in Beverly Hills hotel. Not in the news yet!!” Big Chorizo’s tweet was released at around 4:30 p.m. PST and was only retweeted by one other person.

As people mourned the loss of one of pop music’s most memorable divas, over 3,000 video recordings of Houston’s songs were posted to Twitter. The AP news release was retweeted over 10,000 times, but an article on MSNBC.com regarding the death had the highest number of tweets at around 13,000. Rap artist Lil Wayne tweeted his reaction to the death, which was retweeted 29,000 times; Justin Bieber’s reaction was retweeted about 15,000 times. In total, 2.5 million tweets and retweets occurred within the first hour after the AP story broke.

News organizations like the BBC have clamped down on journalists who release stories on Twitter before filing newsroom copy. BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones commented, “Some would like to turn the clock back to a simpler time, when all power resided in the newsdesk, only star reporters got a byline, and sharing information with outsiders before the presses rolled or the bulletin began was a sacking offence. But it is almost certainly too late for that.”

The BBC does have technology that allows reporters to file newsroom copy and to tweet their copy simultaneously.

Twitter may become a significant force in news delivery in the future. However, verifying rumors on Twitter takes time, and false reports of celebrity deaths on Twitter run rampant. Rapper Lil Boosie and actor Keanu Reeves have both been victims of “Twitter deaths” in the past 24 hours.

Both stars are very much alive, and they are not the only celebrities to be falsely killed off by the Twitterverse. Bieber, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Morgan Freeman have all had false reports of their deaths circulate freely on Twitter.

Houston’s won’t be the last celebrity death mentioned on Twitter. Unfortunately, this time, the tragic news was all too true.