Twitter's Take on the Boston Marathon Tragedy

As the sad news of the Boston marathon bombings continues to be revealed, the power of Twitter (and social media) has made sure that once again, we are at the forefront of the news as it happens.

There have been a series of explosions at the finish line for the Boston Marathon. Though the number of casualties still remains unconfirmed, reports on Twitter suggest that there are ‘dozens’ of injuries.

While the Boston Police’s Twitter page currently says that two are dead and 22 injured, the New York Post’s page reports that dozens are injured.

BREAKING: Dozens of people seriously injured after 2 powerful explosions detonated near finish line of Boston Marathon (via @bostonglobe)

— New York Post (@nypost) April 15, 2013

Fox News tweeted that at least three have been killed and dozens injured including 10 amputations as blasts rip Boston Marathon finish.

According to a tweet from the Boston Herald, one of the explosions seemed to be centered in a ‘trash can’. Minutes later a further tweet from the publication said that cell phone service was suspended to prevent remote detonations of explosives.

RT @breakingnews: Report: Cellphone service shut down in Boston to prevent remote detonations of explosives, official says – @ap

— Boston Herald (@bostonherald) April 15, 2013

Meanwhile in an opportunistic twist, a spam account was created under the Twitter handle @_bostonmarathon and was being used as a tool to monetize on the tragedy, and gain followers. In less than five minutes, the tweets from this account gained more than 47,000 retweets as well as over 800 favorites.

It wasn’t before long that Twitter users realized that the account was a hoax and urged the social media platform to close it down. Within thirty minutes @_bostonmarathon was suspended.

to those who are disgusted by the @_bostonmarathon RT request twitter.com/_bostonmaratho… its a spam account.real account is @bostonmarathon

— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) April 15, 2013