Watching news spread on Twitter

Ed McMahon dies -- notable but not earth-shattering -- and Twitter springs to life

Twitter in recent days has received much attention for the role it has played in keeping the world informed about what's going on in Iran. Events of that magnitude are rare, of course, so it is the everyday drumbeat of life -- and in some cases death -- that make up the bulk of Twitter discourse.

The first time I ever seriously "watched news" on Twitter was when the plane landed in the Hudson. It's since become something of a habit when news breaks. I took another look about 8:30 this morning just as word began to spread that Ed McMahon -- Johnny Carson's sidekick and iconic sweepstakes pitchman -- had passed away.

As expected, Twitter is simply exploding with pass-along news stories, condolences, wisecracks and personal commentary of every stripe (just as I'm hearing my colleagues talk about the news outside my office). There is simply no way to read all of the tweets -- since I started writing this a few minutes ago, there have been 2,550 more -- so here is a representative sample I culled over 15 minutes:

Many are sincere and respectful:

KristaFulmer: AWWW! Ed McMahon died? That's too bad! He seemed like a very nice man!

Staceyree: please pray for the family of ed mcmahon... he passed away this morning.

wendywawa RIP - Ed McMahon - Let's raise a toast today to one of the greatest sidekicks of all time!

uniqueelegance RIP Ed McMahon - it's like losing a grampy! First Bea Arthur now this! Argh....so sad

There were the obvious and funny, although these got repetitive fast:

dracoling He may have already won a free trip to heaven! -- RT:@cnndotcomlive CNN has confirmed Ed #McMahon has died at the age of 86.

DetailJunkie R.I.P. Ed McMahon. Hope Johnny is saying, "Heeeeerrre's Ed!"

AlecGraham Great, now giant checks will be delivered by zombie McMahon. Still, better than no giant checks at all...

eliopoulos Man, how many awful political cartoons of EdMcMahon at the pearly gates with an angel saying, "Heeeeeeeere's Ed!" tomorrow?

Some were informative:

KatieFavazza RT @drjjoyner: Did you know Ed McMahon was a Marine colonel? I didn't.

PeterKingCBS Ed McMahon's booko, "When Television Was Young" is a FABULOUS history of the medium's early days, told with love and humor.

fleetfootphilo Most interesting fact of the moment isn't that EdMcMahon has just died; it's that he was born in Detroit. Who freaking knew?

Some were just odd ... and brutally honest:

glenihan Ed McMahon died? Thinking about going to gym, but thought is evaporating.

kevolution RIP Ed McMahon 70 miles in 10 days! Cmon' feet!

RickSheridan Sympathies to his family, but Ed McMahon was never funny or talented in any way.

Now I'm not suggesting that any of this Twitter chatter is important; clearly, it's a diversion, like the proverbial water-cooler conversation. But it's a big group around a big water cooler and you might want to take a sip the next time you hear about a breaking news story.

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