I first learned President Obama would announce Osama bin Laden’s death during a May 1 special report by CBS News Anchor Russ Mitchell that interrupted “CSI: Miami.”
When I logged on to @digiqueen0809, my Twitter account, @USATODAY was reporting that @BarackObama would announce bin Laden was dead. I retweeted that and so did 12 others.
I continued to watch Mitchell’s anchoring of the developing story while using Twitter to share the news. That’s the beauty of this digital age – having television and social media simultaneously providing data about breaking news. I call it an “information high.”
@Tweetdeck is a wonderful resource. I used it to tweet seamlessly to all of my social networks. I sent about 72 tweets including many from those I follow; here are my favorites:
@NAHJ sent the news, in Spanish, from Univision, which I retweeted.
@Poynter’s tweet stated journalists were sent emails and texts saying “get to work.”
@TIME stated a crowd was outside the White House waving flags.
I tweeted some of the president’s comments from his announcement on @CBSNews, including: … today a small team of Americans “killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.”
@nenajimedia urged everyone to pray.
@FO_Woolverton: RT@rtburg: MT @matflener Map of where Osama bin Laden was killed.
@LatinosMatter pointed out that Pres. Obama said “Bin Laden was not a Muslin leader, he was a mass murderer of Muslims.”
@D_Aarons stated President Bush said Obama called to tell him about Osama.
@ToureX shared President Clinton’s congratulations.
@kinggayle asked “Could BARACK OBAMA look more presidential?”
@PBS shared @NYTimesAd’s tweet of how the Osama announcement leaked out.
@CBSNews stated the FBI is preparing a bulletin to law enforcement agencies.
@LeslieMarshall queried: Are u going to ask where Obama was born? or who made the orders to kill Bin Laden?!!! OBAMA Yes!!!
@JadeYG: RT @ewstephe: So when Obama said last week he had 'better stuff to do' than talk about his birth certificate... Yeah.
@HFord2 stated it was great to be an American!
@LIVESTRONGCEO thanked our troops, veterans and public servants.
@mashable wanted to know where I first heard the news of bin Laden’s death. I responded I heard about it on the local (Dallas-Fort Worth) CBS-TV affiliate.
@GMA shared that Times Square was packed.
@tackable had a photo from the crowd at the White House.
@joshtpm sent the link to video of the president’s speech.
@DeepakChopra wrote: Dear Mr Trump do you want to see Osama bin Laden's death certificate--long form or short form ?
@chavis_t noted: In stitches -> RT @ikathyv: Hahaha! RT @WatchJ: I know one thing........Michelle Obama bout to have a looooooooooong night.
@elizlowe pointed out: cars are blasting springsteen's "born in the usa" outside of #gwbush's house #binladen #dallas @SMUDailyMustang.
@BishopJakes urged everyone to remember this historic moment.
@HuffingtonPost: Twitter says more than 4,000 tweets per second were sent during Obama's speech.
@TekLadoMagazine offered the president’s speech in Spanish.
@dallas_news: Check out the tweets of Sohaib Athar, Twitter name @ReallyVirtual He unknowingly live tweeted the Bin Laden raid in Pakistan.
Following a strong mix of news, social media and other people can provide a solid Twitter experience. Being prepared is critical in order to share timely and important messages with your followers.