Breaking Bin Laden: Visualizing The Power Of A Single Tweet

You might have heard that The Rock knew about Osama's death before the President announced it, but chances are he heard it from Donald Rumsfeld's Chief Of Staff. SocialFlow analyzed 14.8 million tweets to visualize the spread of the most influential blurb of them all.

By
Chris Menning
by Chris Menning

BuzzFeed Staff

  • One full hour before the President's announcement that Osama Bin Laden had been killed, Keith Urbahn (Chief of Staff at the office of Donald Rumsfeld) tweeted the news.

  • Urbahn wasn't the first to speculate that the announcement had to do with Bin Laden, nor did he have have a massive following on Twitter - only 1016 followers. But because of the authority of his position, he was the most retweeted, making him the leading amplifier of the news prior to the President's address.

  • For the full study and detailed analysis, check out the SocialFlow Blog.

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