It’ll come as no shock if I write about something different today after the events of yesterday. You’ll probably assume I mean the demise of a gifted singer/performer from Gary, Indiana and you’d be correct.

The desire for profit and community online in 2009 has reached ever increasing heights. I won’t show the lack of tact to list them all but every combination of Micheal / Jackson / Death.com were seized within moments of his passing away. On facebook by late evening I counted over 60 groups with RIP, Missing, Goodbye Michael Jackson having sprung up in less than 6 hours. Membership levels on some of these groups was amazing. Naturally enough his official website was locked, assumed due to traffic.

In addition the news spread like wildfire via social networking, before even all the TV networks were on board. The point of my writing today is that the internet has replaced traditional modes of community to some extent, you might not know the person who lives 3 houses away from you but you probably have seen photos of all 4 kids of someone you knew back in junior high.

Strange times, it’d be healthy if news topics of more importance gained the same seismic impact but that’s another blog entirely.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com