Osama Bin Laden found in Abbottabad is Notta Bad for Social Media.

Where were you when JFK died? Where were you when the World Trade Centers collapsed?  And now another memorable one for Americans, where were you when you found out Osama had been captured & killed? It used to be that we would find out from a friend watching the news or overhear someone talking about it. Now thanks to Twitter & Facebook, it is safe to say this is where most people will remember hearing about the significant moments in history.  Below are some statistics that can give you a better understanding on what was happening on the Internet that fateful Sunday night.

-From a poll posted on Mashable.com,  31% found out about Osama’s death on Twitter and 20% found out on Facebook.; both mediums beating out T.V., text, and other sources.

-12.4 million tweets about Bin Laden were sent out per HOUR.  And 3,000 tweets were sent out per SECOND between the hours of 10:45 p.m. and 2:20 a.m. ET.

-Foursquare users are creating check-ins like “Osama’s Grave.”  Also, an Osama joke has already been circulating:  “Looks like Osama Bin Laden signed up for Foursquare on the wrong day.“

-There are currently over 474,000 “Likes” for the Facebook page “Osama Bin Laden is Dead” and has increased by 167 since I began writing this post.

-There were over 13,000 videos uploaded to YouTube-mostly of reporters as well as cities where huge celebrations were taking places.

-“Bin Laden” searches on Google were up 1 Million percent on Sunday night.

-13 Minutes elapsed Sunday night between the first tweet credited with breaking the news of Osama bin Laden’s death, and the change to his online Wikipedia entry reflecting that he had died.

Wedding, Death & ProStart

This past weekend while you were engrossed in the news about the Royal Wedding or the death of Bin Laden, Gossip Genie was in the midst of a historical event, the 10th Annual National ProStart Invitational in Overland Park Kansas. The National ProStart Invitational is composed of two distinct competitions: the culinary and management competitions. First-through fifth-place winning teams from each of the two events are awarded medals and scholarships to pursue a career in the restaurant and foodservice industry.

During our 2.5 day stay in Kansas we interviewed over 150 students – which you can watch here in the 73 videos we uploaded to YouTube. We were tweeting and facebooking in real time so everyone at home could follow their team’s progress. We snapped 380 pictures which you can see on the ProStart Facebook page and flooded Twitter with over 500 tweets & retweets all with the hashtag #ProStart. It was a very exciting weekend and through our Facebook application Livestream, everyone at home could watch the awards ceremony and hear the winners announced at the same time as everyone present at the event.  Social media gave a presence to the people who could not attend but very much wanted to be there. Through our extensive documentation, the 10th Annual National ProStart Invitational will be an event that lasts well beyond May 1, 2011.

Congrats to the winning team, California (Newport High School) and everyone else involved.Gossip Genies at the end of our weekend trip – *note this was required attire