As I am sitting here writing music reviews for the upcoming DigitalLife Magazine issue, Twitter is going crazy with tweet reporting that Michael Jackson is dead.

So far I have received two TinyURL's pointing me to TMZ and Global Associated News.  So far I am picking up nothing on Facebook. go figure.

The BBC News site is however reporting that he is in the hospital after being found in his home suffering a cardiac arrest.

Now who should I believe.

Some of the sites are already running banners with the message, "Remembering Michael Jackson".

I wonder if this is a promotional stint because last I heard was that he is planning a new album.  This is a great way to get the media behind you.

This is also another victory for Twitter spreading the news.

This graph is the articles for Michael Jackson according to Google News.

That is how you make an impact, from 0 to 400 in less than 5 hours with 3 leading sources and 361 articles that are related to this.

After one minute I refreshed the page and the count went up to 550 articles. wow.

The report are now saying that "unconfirmed sources" are announcing that he is dead.  This is like watching the news life, online and in print.

On Twitter it shot to the top of the trend indicator.

The only problem is that it is. the spelling.  Also look at the other two terms that shot up.

CPR

CARDIAC ARREST

It is like following a wild fire online at this stage.

I never realised how alive the web actually is.

This is the latest Twitter trend after I updated this post went back refreshed the page.

Michael Jackson is now officially the hottest trend in a matter of 10 minutes.

The Google News graph has also shot up with about 1000 articles

This post is so far 15 minutes in the making and the trend are constantly changing.  It is like watching Forex charts when they announce the US Job stats.

2 Minutes later and the reports are now stating that Michael Jackson is in a coma.

Google News stats are now being filled with the coma articles and has pushed Trends A,B and C above 1 300.

The popular articles are still in a coma

Wait, wait.. something new coming over Twitter..

Who is going to pick it up first, Google or Twitter??????

• Start your own strip Club from home
• Payment model for Sex
• Porn 2.0
• I want my own Red Light District
  

Twitter = LA Times

Google = CNN

So the Twitter lead is stating that he has passed away whilst the latest Google result show that he is also dead. but it is still unconfirmed.

In an interesting development, Wikipedia joins the update race according to Cnet.  According to the blog, "they were too slow for the legions of Wikipedia users who descended on the site and repeatedly modified the entry about the pop star."

This leaves me asking: how big an influence Michael Jackson is/was (not sure what to type there).

Last update:  All US News stations are now broadcasting that Michael Jackson has passed away at 50.  I watched this via CBS Live streaming.