As expected, Twitter is reporting a dramatic rise in mentions of “Boston” following the tragic bombings that claimed three lives and injured countless others.
An executive with the microblogging giant revealed at AllThingsD’s D: Dive Into Mobile conference that mentions of “Boston” have climbed 200 times the usual rate so far this week.
Michael Sippey, vice president of consumer products at Twitter, says “our CEO, Dick Costolo has said, when events happen in the world, they also happen on Twitter.”
In addition to “Boston,” usage of the word “help” also surged in the wake of the deadly blast.
Illustrating social media’s important role in how news is reported today, several Twitter users on location in Boston played a critical role in the first wave of reports and images to surface publicly after the blasts took place on Monday.
