Twitter Tragedy
Tuesday was an unproductive day that still has me rattled a bit today. I found myself consistently distracted by a social media dialog around the death of a two-year old boy. Even today I struggle to write clearly on the topic. What was the meaning of my observation? I now I think I see it clearly. So here I go.
Shellie Ross tweeted that her two-year old had “…fell in the pool.” Shortly thereafter word spread through twitter-sphere about her loss. (I don’t know her personally, but do follow her on twitter.) Hundreds of wishes of sympathy and prayers came in from fellow bloggers, mothers, and the online community at large, offering their support. And then a small bit of negativity crept in.
Madison McGraw on twitter suggested that the tweet about her son passing was a fabrication because she was unable to verify it through third-parties such as police records or local news media. And then she continued a rank of accusations of how she was unable able to verify the event. All the while calling out and challenging a mother, who was mourning her loss, in the public view on Twitter. She is even wrote a blog post on it.
Admittedly, knowing little of how tragedies are reported or recorded, I began to develop some doubt regarding the authenticity of the event. The “Balloon Boy” came to mind. But what person would tempt karma in such a way as to fake her own child’s passing? To what benefit? It felt implausible, but definitely what I was hoping for it, since it would be less tragic.
Needless to say, I kept returning to see if anymore information came forward. And as I believe many others must have as well, I continued to wonder about the validity of her tweet. Would I so quickly tweet about it if it happened in my family?
And then the boy’s passing was confirmed by local news. I felt embarrassed for questioning her tweet, even though I only did so to myself privately. Why wouldn’t she tell her twitter followers? She was just looking for some support.
I offer my condolences to Shellie Ross and disgust for Madison McGraw.
Post by Kevin Burke
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I'm a dad, marketer, hubby, builder of services for moms, and online social media fan. I like to think of myself as an entrepreneur helping lead the new media and marketing revolution. MomsWhoBlog.com is my latest project. More on me. |
