Social JFK

From USA Today:

"Rieder: If JFK had been shot in the social media era"

The traumatic assassination of John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, marked the debut of live, round-the-clock TV coverage of big news. Here's how it might have played out on social.

11:37 a.m.: The president and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy arrive at Love Field in Dallas. They embark on a motorcade through the city accompanied by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, as well as Texas Gov. John Connally and his wife, Nellie.

• Pics and video of the Kennedys flood Instagram. Vines are tweeted and retweeted, as are pics of Jackie with red roses.

• Selfies taken along the parade route are shared on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat.

12:30 p.m.: Three shots are fired at the Kennedy motorcade at Dealey Plaza.

• Tweets instantly begin appearing about the shots and about the chaos at the scene.

• Photos of Secret Service agents rushing to the president's limousine appear on Facebook.

• Speculation about just what has happened floods Twitter and Facebook, as does concern about the fate of the president. (Was he shot?).

• "I'm here. I'm OK" tweets start appearing.

12:35 p.m.: The networks announce that the president has been shot. The presidential limousine arrives at Parkland Hospital.

• The first and most iconic tweets and Instagrams receive a string of replies from news organizations, asking for more information and permission to repost.

• People along the route tweet and Instagram pics of the motorcade speeding to the hospital and share photos on Facebook.

• "What's going on?" tweets proliferate.

12:40 p.m.: Abraham Zapruder uploads his raw footage of the assassination to YouTube. So do many others.

• Hashtags such as #Dallas and #Presidentshot start trending and abound on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and G+.

• Twitter is overwhelmed with reports that Johnson has been hit, that Connally was shot. Apprehension about the fate of the First Lady mounts, and the hashtag #whathappenedtojackie blows up.

• People begin retweeting tweets from the Dallas Police feed: "Investigation underway. No information at this time."

• Someone starts a Storify.

12:45 p.m.: Dallas Police tweet a description of the suspect. Retweets immediately follow. The description is widely shared on Facebook.

• Parkland Hospital tweets: "The patient is being treated. We have no other additional information at this time." Speculation that the president has died appears on Twitter and other social media venues.

• Detailed discussions of bullet wounds to the head appear on a Reddit thread. Someone starts a Reddit ELIA5 discussion (Explain Like I'm 5): What happens if the president is in coma for a long time?

12:50 p.m.: Twitter tweets of a system failure because it is overloaded.

12:55 p.m.: A local radio station tweets the president is dead. The tweet is instantly and widely retweeted.

• Many news organizations hedge their bets: "REPORT: President Kennedy is dead."; "Unconfirmed reports say President Kennedy is dead."

1 p.m.: President Kennedy is declared dead.

1:05 p.m.: The White House press secretary and JFK's Twitter account issue an official statement that the president has died.

• Reddit launches a search for the killer, complete with photos of people at Dealey Plaza.

1:15 p.m.: Mainstream media outlets erroneously report the number of shooters and their identities. The mistakes are quickly knocked down by authorities.

1:22 p.m.: Jim Romenesko posts about the erroneous journalism on his media blog.

• A rifle is found on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository overlooking Dealey Plaza.

1:45 p.m.: BuzzFeed publishes a list of 12 things you didn't know about the Texas School Book Depository.

• Twitter accounts of Dallas Morning News reporters and other local journalists spike.

2 p.m.: Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested at the Texas Theater for the murder of Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit. Oswald is already a suspect in the president's death.

2:30 p.m.: Lyndon Johnson is sworn in as president.

2:40 p.m.: Politico posts an analysis of what the Johnson presidency will look like.

3 p.m.: Social media sites are packed with tributes to the slain president.

• BuzzFeed publishes a list of 12 things you didn't know about Lee Harvey Oswald.

• People save Oswald's Facebook page, anticipating that the social networking giant will soon shut it down. Other Lee Harvey Oswalds receive threatening messages on their Facebook pages.

3:45 p.m.: Kennedy haters post ugly messages about the dead president, triggering massive explosions of outrage. Publicshaming.tumblr.com posts examples of the tasteless tweets.

11:26 p.m.: Lee Harvey Oswald is charged with the murder of President Kennedy.

11:31 p.m.: Jack Ruby checks in on foursquare at the Carousel Club.

^ This was interesting to see how the Kennedy assassination could have played on if they had the Internet and social media back then. Who knows maybe Oswald wouldn't have been killed and we could have learned the whole truth. Of course sometimes social media (and any media) is overdone. While I didn't use any social media (only basic e-mail, etc) on 9-11 the constant live coverage on the TV for several days was overwhelming. I think the same would have taken place if things like Twitter or Facebook were popular back in 2001 or 1963. One thing I am really glad is that the Internet wasn't that popular or widespread (and there was no social media to speak of) when I was in school otherwise I'm sure I would have posted a bunch of stupid pictures like today's kids do. Also if there was social media in the 1960s I wonder if we would have come to the brink of nuclear war in October 1962 with the Cuban Missile Crisis or would JFK and Khrushchev have twitted and e-mailed each other and fixed it sooner? You can go through all the major events in history along the same lines.^

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/rieder/2013/11/21/if-kennedy-had-been-shot-in-the-social-media-era/3663465/