Twitter Mentions of 'Boston' Increased 20,000%

Lance Ulanoff2013-04-16 21:26:43 UTC

Monday's horrific bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon were covered in real-time on Twitter. It was where many people got real information as the events unfolded, along with a dose of misinformation.

If you thought your Twitter feed was filled with information about the Boston attack, you weren't wrong. Mentions of the world "Boston" skyrocketed on Twitter by a factor of 200, Twitter VP of Consumer Product Michael Sippey told AllThingsD's Dive into Mobile Conference in New York City on Tuesday.

Sippey, who also happens to be a short-distance runner, spoke emotionally about how he could imagine his own children watching him reach the finish line in a race when something like this happens.

Twitter stayed up consistently, said Sippey: “When events happen in the world, they also happen on Twitter, and that was the case yesterday."

The company also saw an increase in the use of the word "help", which Sippey said was due in part to people tweeting their support to first responders as well as offers of help on the microblogging platform.

Twitter's recent enchantments to search also played a role, according to Sippey. "If you were searching for 'Boston' yesterday, you were getting a really great mix of the best content on Twitter," he said.

Did you use Twitter yesterday to track the breaking news story, or was Facebook a better source? Did social media beat news sites? Tell us about your experiences in the comments below.

Photo By Mashable

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