Social Media Rises from Metrodome Collapse

On this past Sunday morning at 5a.m. Fox Sports was testing their cameras in the Metrodome in Minneapolis, MN, to prepare for the Vikings game scheduled for noon that day. After noticing some unusual activity at the top of the Teflon dome, Fox Sports employees decided to keep the cameras rolling – and it’s a good thing they did. The cameras captured the collapse of the Metrodome as the weight of the heavy snow (from a major storm on Saturday) overwhelmingly crashed onto the field, tearing the Teflon fabric of the roof in several areas.

The footage has been all over television since Sunday morning, and even the front page of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune reads “DOWN IT CAME” with a photo of the snow-covered field. However, newspapers and TV newscasts are not the only way that people are seeing the footage;  a few million people have already watched videos of the collapse on YouTube. In just over 24 hours, there are already more than 20 videos posted that show the cave-in on the social media site. Those videos have several million views already, and the numbers are constantly growing. What does this say about social media as a major news source?

“Social media sites, such as YouTube and Facebook, allow online users to instantly find breaking news and important information,” said Chelsea Janke of the Social Media Incubator. “There’s no longer a need to wait to hear the latest headlines because smart phones and similar devices provide immediate answers via the internet. Social media provides real-time information that is effectively changing the way we communicate, and you should definitely use it to your advantage.”

Published on: December 13, 2010