International Law

War of the Worlds on Twitter

it was only a matter of time:

Hundreds of tweets detailed a mock Martian invasion, with reports both panic-stricken and humorous.

"Smoking, smoldering hunks of buildings, cars and people lay strewn about," wrote one user, joshlewis. "The tripods have left the Warehouse District in ruins." 

Another, iancanfield, wrote: "The freeways are packed! I've heard from a few stuck on 252 and 94, they are sitting ducks."

Since the site made headlines at South by Southwest in 2007, Twitter has been used to comment on national events and disseminate crucial information quickly during natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and earthquakes. A team of NASA scientists even adopted the service to blast space-loving geeks with updates on the Mars Phoenix rover's progress.

However, it appears this is the first time the service has been used for mass fiction. The mock Twittering appears to be spontaneous: Twitterers are chipping in as the idea spreads across the network.

Read more here (from Wired).  And read about the invasion with the hashtag #wotw2.

Full post as published by Freedom to Differ on November 01, 2008 (boomark / email).