Shortly before 10pm Central Time on May 1, I received a new alert from the Huffington Post via the iPhone app informing me that President Obama was to soon speak to the world from the White House.
Shortly thereafter, news started to flow online and via TV networks that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. Instantly, the smartphone and social media exerted its influence over the first “Where Were You?” moment for Americans in nearly a decade.
From Abbottadad resident Sohaib Athar’s @ReallyVirtual Twitter handle (delivered via TweetDeck) to the hundred of thousands of people who instantly joined the Osama Bid Laden is DEAD Facebook page, this event illustrates how dramatically news coverage and consumption has transformed over the past decade.
To stay up to date on the Bin Laden story and other world events, iOS apps including AP News, BBC News, and Al Jazeera English Live are just a few of the countless options available to provide news, analysis and alternate global vantage points to the news.
Owners of Android devices can tap into separate apps from CNN designed for smartphones and tablets respectively to track the news. The new Meet the Press Android app is also a good resource to showcase the domestic political impact of an event we will all no doubt remember for the rest of our lives.
