Web is all tears over Michael Jackson's death

BANGALORE, INDIA: The untimely death of pop legend Michael Jackson has naturally led to a massive surge in web traffic, as millions logged on to the Internet to read about the passing of the legendary musician.

To know the intensity of the cyber space's romance with Michael Jackson, only a Google search will do. Type 'Michael Jackson' and the search engine throws out a whopping 58,100,000 results.

While on Bing the search term Michael Jackson throws up 65,700,000 results, there are more than 155,002 videos too, associated with the search term.

Twitter is flooded with Jackson tweets. Immediately after the news of the death was made public, major websites including Facebook, Twitter and MySpace were reported "moving at a snail's pace".

And TMZ.com, which broke the news first, virtually crashed earlier today, as millions scrambled for the latest updates, the Guardian reported.

Even after hours of his death, messages containing the word 'Jackson' were still being posted to the site at a rate of almost 900 per minute. It was earlier reported they were moving in the tens of thousands per minute.

According to a report on Mashable, tribute posts accounted for almost a third of all messages on the site at their peak.

On the other hand, PerezHilton.com has reportedly been intermittently slowed and downed by the numbers of browsers trying to get more information from the gossip site following Jackson's death.

In Google trends, again, it was the death of Michael Jackson that was the top-most one. Of the top ten, four were on the pop icon - Michael Jackson died, Michael Jackson's kids pics, Michael Jackson dead 2009, Janet Jackson on Michael s death.

This apart, there were many celebrities friends who tweeted on the passing of their celebrity friend. While many of them directly put their tweets, the site was also flooded with the tweets of the common users who quoted the celebrities.

On Twitter too "RIP Michael Jackson" is the top of the trends list.

“We lost a great entertainer and a pop icon. My thoughts and prayers go out to Michael Jackson's family, friends and fans,” says Arnold Schwarzenegger tweet.

The tearful remark of Madonna, “I can't stop crying over the sad news”, was another tweet that was posted by many Twitter users.

In the words of Samantha Ronson, “His music is just as relevant now as it was the day they pressed record.” And Heidi Montag says the world has suffered a GREAT loss today.

"He has been an inspiration throughout my entire life and I'm devastated he's gone!" another tweet quotes Britney Spears.

Of course, the death of Michael has pushed every news behind. And naturally actress Farrah Fawcett's death also got overshadowed by the death of the king of pop.

Commenting on the death of Jackson, Sir Howard Stringer, chairman, CEO and president, Sony Corp, said: "Michael Jackson was a brilliant troubadour for his generation, a genius whose music reflected the passion and creativity of an era. His artistry and magnetism changed the music landscape forever.”

Yes, one thing is for sure – love him, or hate him, but you cannot ignore him. Because he was the man who wanted to "heal the world, make it a better place. For u and for me and the entire human race," as the tweet posted by TCSophisticate, says quoting the legend of pop music.