News In Brief

The bin Laden raid, tweeted

Tess Vigeland May 2, 2011

And this final note, again from Abbottabad, Pakistan. The Twitterverse lit up last night with word of bin Laden’s death. But today, one Twitter account stands out. A man who goes by the handle @ReallyVirtual went from less than 1,000 followers yesterday, to — as of late-afternoon Eastern time — more than 72,000 and rising by the minute.

Why? He live-tweeted the raid on bin Laden’s hideout without even knowing it. The IT consultant at first expressed annoyance at the helicopters flying over his city and home. Now he can’t keep up with all the social media requests flying at him. “I am just a Tweeter, awake at the time of the crash,” he tweeted today.

Not many Twitter users in Abbottabad. These guys are more into Facebook.

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