Media Overload

There was a little Twitter storm here this afternoon as the American Library Association announced their Youth Media Awards. The ALA was right on the ball, having a live video feed from the awards ceremony, and coverage on Twitter, Facebook and Second Life. Being caught up in work I didn’t quite twig when Colleen Twitted (Tweeted?) that the ceremony was starting, but thankfully I was paying attention when the news came in that Neil Gaiman had won the Newbery.

The ALA’s web site went through a period of extreme overload shortly thereafter and I was unable to get full data (though I did get confirmation of Neil’s win from his own happy Tweets). I have since discovered that their Twitter feed crashed during the ceremony as well. It looks like Twitter is clearly the way to get news out, at least to the new media generation.

So now my ambition is to generate enough interest in the Hugos that my live coverage and the Hugo Twitter feed go down during the ceremony.