Google and Other Major Websites Struggle after Michael Jackson’s Death
After news reports about Michael Jackson’s death started spreading, there was a huge increase in internet activity as many users wanted to know the details. Due to this, many websites suffered problems because they could not handle the increased pressure.
The problem was an onslaught of internet activity. Google trend pages showed that the Search Volume index had reached a peak during 2:40pm to 3:15pm Pacific Time. Even the activity on Twitter increased and the BBC analysed the data showing that there were more than 66,500 Tweets on MJ. Trendrr also gave a similar view and said that there were more than 100,000 Tweets per hour about him. Due to the increase in activity, Twitter almost collapsed. Even Wikipedia broke down as people kept on trying to update the entry on MJ.
Another site which suffered similar problems was Google. In fact, it was scared that there was a global cyber attack, according to the BBC. Google had immediately reacted to this perceived threat by putting up a warning displayed to users who searched for Michael Jackson.
Various other websites such as AOL, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and Yahoo could not function properly, according to Keynote Systems. The director of the external operations, Shawn White said that the average broadband download speed which is usually less than four seconds was around nine seconds for these sites. The average availability of sites was 86 per cent when it is usually hundred per cent.
