As the 'From Missing to Mystery' Beutler Ink infographic points out, in the past two weeks, over four million tweets about the missing #MH370 flight were posted. Since the plane was reported to be lost, the Twitter feed for the hashtag has been filled with questions, prayers, some inappropriate jokes, conspiracy theories and more questions.
In addition to Twitter, the graphic highlights the responses across the Internet on other sites like Reddit, Tomnod and Wikipedia over the course of the first 13 days. On March 14th when it was suggested that there was evidence to support a highjacking, there was a flurry of activity on all of these sites. Over these 13 days, the Wikipedia page for MH370 has been subject to "thousands of edits" and has grown to a substantial page about the missing flight.
Although there is still a lot of frustration, anger and sadness over MH370, it’s heartwarming to know that there have been millions of people from all over the world volunteering their time to search satellite imagery provided by Tomnod in order to provide the families who have lost loved ones with some closure.
Airline Mystery Social Statistics
This Chart Recaps the Net's Reaction to the Missing MH370 Flight
Trend Themes
1. Social Media Engagement - The influx of millions of tweets about the missing MH370 flight highlights the power of social media as a platform for engagement and discussion during crisis situations.
2. Crowdsourced Investigation - The use of Tomnod and other platforms to involve millions of volunteers in searching satellite imagery shows the potential for crowdsourcing as a tool in investigative efforts.
3. Real-time Collaborative Editing - The constant editing and growth of the Wikipedia page for MH370 demonstrates the value of real-time collaborative platforms for collectively gathering and disseminating information during unfolding events.
Industry Implications
1. Social Media - The social media industry can explore ways to improve crisis response and communication strategies based on the immense engagement witnessed during the MH370 incident.
2. Crowdsourcing - The crowdsourcing industry can capitalize on the success of Tomnod and similar platforms to offer their services for large-scale investigative projects, such as missing persons cases.
3. Collaborative Software - The collaborative software industry has the opportunity to develop enhanced real-time editing platforms that prioritize accuracy and efficiency, particularly for handling breaking news and events.