Tags
Academy Awards, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Bradley Cooper, Dolby Theater, Ellen DeGeneres, Hollywood, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Spacey, Meryl Streep, Oscars, selfie, The Ellen Show, Twitter
The 2014 Oscars were last Sunday evening, March 2nd. If you don’t live in a cave, you probably heard about Ellen DeGeneres’ Oscar selfie that broke Twitter.
If you just came out of your cave and missed all that action, you can get the deets from the Los Angeles Times article about the event here and the New York Daily News article here.
One Message ~ Over 2 Million Retweets
Basically here’s what happened…
Oscar host, Ellen DeGeneres, encouraged Bradley Cooper to take the infamous picture of her and the cozied-up group of A-List actors, including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Spacey, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
Long before midnight that night, Ellen’s selfie was retweeted more than 2 million times. The overwhelming influx of network traffic brought Twitter to its knees. Or, to use a highly technical term, “they were hosed”. So much so, that Twitter later sent out an apology regarding the 20 minute disruption in service that happened after 8 p.m. PST.
Why it’s a big deal…
People who don’t use Twitter don’t get how big this is, both on a technically and humanly—the way we work and live.
I’ve been a technical writer in the software industry for a number of years, and have been exposed to a broad range of technologies in some of the most influential companies in Silicon Valley. Twitter, and other high-profile companies that provide real-time services, have substantial server farms to compensate for traffic during peak times. Nothing short of World War III should bring them down.
So … for ONE TWEET to hose the services of a company like Twitter is HUGE.
But something else was remarkable about this phenomenon. It shone a lantern on how Twitter affects the way we interact and communicate as a society.
One message shared over two million times because it resonated with a population, is nothing short of amazing.
This says something powerful about instantaneous connectedness. How the world is a global community in which we share thoughts and ideas in a fraction of a second. More important, how much we have come to depend on this ability.
I was one of the many who live tweeted through the 2014 Oscars broadcast, talking with people across the nation and around the world, retweeting and replying to tweets. I experienced the “Twitter crash” in real-time, the frustrating sudden loss of being able to communicate with other tweeters.
The retweets-heard-round-the-world from Ellen’s single tweet demonstrated our power as a collective whole. Because at the end of the day, technology is nothing without us—the people who drive it.
How does technology affect the way you communicate and live?
Elizabeth Fais 
I saw the photo but didn’t realize it broke twitter. That kind of power is really awesome.
If you could see the *huge rooms* with racks of equipment that Twitter, and other such companies, use to power their services, you’d be even more amazed. 🙂
I was watching the Oscars as this happened, but I only tweet at my computer so I did not catch what happened on Twitter. You’re right. This is amazing. The planet is connected in a way it never has been before.
I was *trying* to tweet during that time and couldn’t figure out why they weren’t going through, until Ellen announced that they’d broken Twitter. Truly mind boggling, considering the rooms filled with racks and racks of systems that power such companies. 🙂
Awesome to be so connected, and even more awesome to be so popular (in a very good way) to receive that kind of response to a selfie. I’m sure Ellen and company are humbled.
I doubt she expected her selfie to be so popular. What was so engaging about it for me, was how these A-list actors were all crowding in (like a bunch of normal peeps) to get in the shot!
Could it be, Elizabeth, that these A-listers could be normal peeps? Wow. There may be room for us!
It was endearing to see some of Hollywood’s influential stars pushing and crowding each other like a bunch of teenagers. Meryl Streep’s expression says it all. This from people who are in front of cameras all the time. Seriously. 🙂
I totally missed this…been kind of busy in my cave, writing & not really paying attention to social media much.Man, I wish I could get enough re-tweets to hose Twitter…and I bet everybody else does too! (Except the people who have to fix it, afterwards). 🙂
I don’t think I would have noticed if I hadn’t been watching the broadcast. What was so endearing was how the famous actors were crowding to get in the shot. As if it was a new experience to have their picture taken. 🙂
Must have been frustrating for Twitter users NOT watching the Oscars… they wouldn’t have had a clue what was going on. Here in Australia, they were on throughout our Monday morning and early afternoon… Not sure if they were broadcast live on TV here (probably yes), but most of us would have watched the prime time broadcast on Monday evening, by which time we knew all the results of course.
It was frustrating for me, and I was live tweeting as I watched the broadcast. I didn’t know what was wrong–why my tweets weren’t going through–until Ellen announced that they’d broken Twitter.