Social media is a powerful, transcendent tool.  Believe it or not, I’m not here to talk about how Donte Whitner misuses social media, even if it’s quite clear that he does. 

If you were browsing Facebook or Twitter last night around 10 p.m. Eastern, you probably weren’t prepared for the avalanche of rumors, news and humor that would bombard the social media-sphere until the wee hours of Monday morning. The POTUS announced that Osama Bin Laden, the figurehead of terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, was killed by Navy SEAL Team Six, in case you were barred from people and media last night.

Ironically, Twitter was abuzz (bad helicopter joke!) near Islamabad as the raid was occurring.  That’s a little crazy when you think about it.  The Buffalo News then documented Mr. Ahar’s ensuing tweets.

Nicole Schuman from Social Media Club Buffalo passed along that 4,000 Tweets per SECOND were sent at the times before and after President Obama’s speech last evening, a shocking amount.  Mashable.com helpfully provides a timeline of the Twitter events from last night.  Twitter’s true impact is that thousands of Americans knew that Osama Bin Laden had been killed over an hour before President Obama addressed the nation. 

Accompanying the shocked reports and serious news were some funny tweets that led to some serious “guffaws.”  It took only seconds for “@GhostOsama” to appear on the cyber-scene, joking about how he regretted enabling “location” on his tweets.  Oh, and GhostOsama already has over 37,000 followers.  We seriously considered creating an @OsamasMangyBeard account, but we passed. 

Do you have a favorite “funny Osama” tweet from last night?  As a sports junkie, I especially appreciated the “Osama Bin Laden out with an upper-body injury, will not return.”