The impact of Michael Jackson's departure on the Internet

There is a report on the CNN Website (cnn.com) titled jacksondies, almosttakesinternetwithhim ). The first sentence of the report is also very interesting. The general idea is, how many people need to block the Internet? The reporter finally found that one person is enough, as long as this person is Michael Jackson.

What this reporter wants to report is a sudden explosion of network wonders. The death of Jackson, the king of American pop music, triggered the most serious traffic jam in the history of the online world. Countless people search for Jackson on their computers at the same time. In just one hour, the explosive growth of search requests has paralyzed search functions such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, and the New York Times website, the duration ranges from 25 minutes to several hours. The highly intensive clicks are all directed at Jackson's latest news, live anecdotes, and music and videos. Major websites are overwhelmed, feature disorder, and their network speeds are severely reduced or even paused. In the newspaper, commentators often use adjectives such as "volcanic eruption", "surging waves", and "millions of tons of things on the big bang" to show surprise.

Compete, a Boston-based network analysis company, provides such a set of analysis data and charts on its webpage. As of June 27, the top 25 search engines, news websites, and social media websites in the United States recorded a total of 9.98 million search requests. This is equivalent to a rolling "violent attack". If it is shown as a graphic, it is like a sudden rise of a steep and almost straight mountain on the ground, piercing the blue sky. The famous search engine Google independently undertakes and digested 61% of the total "attacks. Following the first news posted by Jackson, Yahoo web attracted 0.8 million clicks in the first 10 minutes. In Jackson's music video browsing, Yahoo Music was the top player, handling 45% of the total search requests. The second place is YouTube, which handles 23% of the total.

As a result, Jackson is not only the king of pop music, but also the king of instant search. When he was born, he had a world record that could not be broken. No one could think of him. In the form of sudden death, he created a super world record in the virtual space. There is a number that cannot be left blank. Two weeks ago, global netizens set a record for the Iran event and put Twitter in the limelight. However, this record has been far beyond. The total number of searches with "Michael + Jackson" as the keyword is 24 times the total number of searches with "Iran + Election" as the combination! This comparison is shocking enough to cause analysts to lose their analytical capabilities.

In addition, there is a comparison, which makes people laugh. When Jackson died, the US House of Representatives was discussing the Clean Energy Act. According to some bloggers in the United States, most of them were attracted by Jackson and did not have to discuss them. As a result, it seems that even the program is not right, and the bill will pass with a 7-vote advantage. As a result, many of the Republican who firmly oppose this bill are excited. Promoting the adoption of the bill was originally one of President Obama's major strategies. However, if the bill passes so reluctantly, Obama may not have a clear face. However, the trouble still comes from the other side. It is said that some black voters accused him of failing to grasp the focus of his work. He did not give a public speech when Jackson died. Obama had to speak out for himself, saying that he knew countless black friends and no one criticized him like this.

Why did Jackson die? What exactly does he have and can "launch" the largest group of Internet users in history? For the time being, we may only be able to observe and describe it. It may take some time for us to analyze it more deeply. However, the following two points are worth mentioning.

First, with the rapid development of network and search technologies, new learning methods and expressions are being created. Therefore, keywords and search volume become indicators with rich meanings. We can see what information people are concerned about and what information they are looking. That is to say, it reflects the goal, path, and platform of "information requirement", and reflects the intensity, breadth, and depth of such requirement. Such a demand has accumulated into millions of clicks, which has become a social expression and social appeal. It is also a customer resource in the sense of "Information Economy. This is a new image of "post-industrial society": new technologies, new media, and new social needs are combined, strengthened, and expanded into a global phenomenon. It must also be seen that the storm surge caused by Jackson search has brought new media and new technologies into a "break-in" environment, so they have gained experience and inspiration and have obviously jumped to a new level, it entered a new realm.

Secondly, Jackson's death has aroused grief, proving that there is a "shared cultural experience ". This experience is inseparable from new media (such as music and video) and is transnational. People of different colors, races, nationalities, and ages and social identities can only say that this is a window of memory that suddenly opens, and a shared experience is instantly touched. Tens of millions of people suddenly remembered how Jackson turned himself into a thriller with a magical space step. Tens of millions of people handed in their social networking websites to share the same song: youarenotalone ). Of course, Jackson will also be hated by searchers. However, if both sides of love and hate cannot put him down, it proves that Jackson's music and Its Implication have indeed become a "shared" cultural experience and cultural symbol.

In short, globalization is not just a transnational flow of capital. Cross-border media and cross-border communication, cultural experience and symbols shared by cross-border media, as well as the formation of cross-border identity and cross-border power, are the more profound aspects of globalization.