This is a 'rough' timeline of select social media and online media activity surrounding the crash of US Airways flight 1549 on January 15, 2009. The timestamps, although somewhat accurate, are not absolute nor are they intended to reflect either positively or negatively on the actions of the authors/posters. Apologies for any major omissions. I should add that this is also restricted to the initial activity up to approx 9 AM on the morning of Jan 16, 2009. Video images caught of the crash itself (caught on security cameras) and other items are not included.
1. Online Crisis Audit:
Analysis of the online response to crash of
US Airways Flight 1549
January 15, 2009
Monitoring commenced at 4 pm ET
(All datelines are ET)
Brendan Hodgson, VP Digital, H&K Canada
brendan.hodgson@hillandknowlton.ca
2. US Airways Flight 1549
3:49 PM ET *– first
image appear on
Flickr (within approx.
10 min of incident)
* All times are approximate
3. US Airways Flight 1549
Circa 4:00 PM ET
– traditional media
reports begin
feeding online
5. US Airways Flight 1549
4:07 pm – Online
media coverage
reaches 30+
articles/feeds in
within minutes of
crash
6. US Airways Flight 1549
4:12 pm – Within
30+ minutes, video
pulled from online
media coverage is
posted to YouTube
7. US Airways Flight 1549
4:16 pm ET –
Twitter moves into
overdrive with
hundreds of tweets
on the crash
8. US Airways Flight 1549
4:21 pm ET –
Multiple
photostreams
appear on Flickr
9. US Airways Flight 1549
4:22 pm ET –
Up to 90+
articles online
within 40+ min
10. US Airways Flight 1549
4:23 pm ET –
US Airways site
45+ minutes
after incident
11. US Airways Flight 1549
4:24 pm ET –
Continued
addition of
photos to Flickr
– 17+ added
within the hour
12. US Airways Flight 1549
4:25 pm ET –
Already mass
coverage
internet-wide,
(‘000s of
mentions across
blogs, media,
forums etc.)
13. US Airways Flight 1549
4:25 pm ET -
Twit pic / iPhone
– first mention
of citizen photos
through twitter
14. US Airways Flight 1549
4:30 pm ET –
The definitive
image of the
crisis: taken by a
Ferry commuter,
posted to Twitter
via Twitpic within
initial minutes of
incident
15. US Airways Flight 1549
4:30 pm ET –
The definitive
image of the
crisis: the
original twitter
post as provided
by Silicon Valley
Insider
16. US Airways Flight 1549
4:30 pm ET -
US Airways Site
(intermittent
service outages)
17. US Airways Flight 1549
4:30 pm ET –
Site ads are
removed from
main corporate
site
18. US Airways Flight 1549
4:33 pm ET –
more images –
Citizen and
media-
generated -
begin
aggregating
across key sites
19. US Airways Flight 1549
4:38 pm ET –
First statement
hits US Airways
site
20. US Airways Flight 1549
4:38 pm ET –
First statement
hits US Airways
site
32. US Airways Flight 1549
5:00 pm ET –
updates
continue to feed
through major
blogs / blog
publications
33. US Airways Flight 1549
5:01 pm ET –
personal impact
statements –
how they or
people they
know have been
directly affected
34. US Airways Flight 1549
4:55 pm ET -
articles appear
on the online
impact of the
story – less than
1.5 hours after
incident
35. US Airways Flight 1549
5:01 pm ET –
3rd party sites
feed critical data
related to
incident (e.g.
FlightAware’s
tracking of the
plane)
36. US Airways Flight 1549
5:09 pm ET –
live streamed
video press
statement from
CEO
37. US Airways Flight 1549
5:25 pm ET -
350+
comments
within nearly 2
hours of incident
38. US Airways Flight 1549
5:45 pm ET –
approx.
thousands of
blog mentions
within 2+ hours
39. US Airways Flight 1549
5:55 pm ET -
diversity of
observations from
Twitter – re. media
calling for eye
witnesses, spread of
images, ambulance
chasing lawyers,
media analysis etc.
40. US Airways Flight 1549
6 pm ET - third
statement posted
by US Airways
41. US Airways Flight 1549
6 pm ET - third
statement posted
by US Airways
42. US Airways Flight 1549
6:05 pm ET –
images continue
to propagate
across the web
43. US Airways Flight 1549
6:10 pm ET –
ex-US Airways
employee
Twittering on
accident – mis-
identified as
spokesperson /
inadvertent
brand-jacking(?)
44. US Airways Flight 1549
Approx 6:31 pm
ET – Message
posted to
NYC.gov site
45. US Airways Flight 1549
6:35 pm ET –
Pilot’s web site
(found and
disseminated via
Twitter)
46. US Airways Flight 1549
Approx 6:30 pm
ET – “Ambulance
chasers” move
online (3 hours
after incident)
47. US Airways Flight 1549
6:30 pm ET –
Fourth statement
– transcript of
CEO’s media
statement posted
online
48. US Airways Flight 1549
6:30 pm ET –
Fourth statement
– transcript of
CEO’s media
statement posted
online
49. US Airways Flight 1549
Approx 7:00 pm
ET – more
photos emerge
from citizen
journalists