This is a 'rough' timeline of select social media and online media activity surrounding the crash of US Airways flight 1549 on January 15, 2009. The timestamps, although somewhat accurate, are not absolute nor are they intended to reflect either positively or negatively on the actions of the authors/posters. Apologies for any major omissions. I should add that this is also restricted to the initial activity up to approx 9 AM on the morning of Jan 16, 2009. Video images caught of the crash itself (caught on security cameras) and other items are not included.

1. Online Crisis Audit:
Analysis of the online response to crash of
US Airways Flight 1549
January 15, 2009
Monitoring commenced at 4 pm ET
(All datelines are ET)
Brendan Hodgson, VP Digital, H&K Canada
brendan.hodgson@hillandknowlton.ca

2. US Airways Flight 1549
3:49 PM ET *– first
image appear on
Flickr (within approx.
10 min of incident)
* All times are approximate

3. US Airways Flight 1549
Circa 4:00 PM ET
– traditional media
reports begin
feeding online

4. US Airways Flight 1549
4:05 PM ET –
US Airways site

5. US Airways Flight 1549
4:07 pm – Online
media coverage
reaches 30+
articles/feeds in
within minutes of
crash

6. US Airways Flight 1549
4:12 pm – Within
30+ minutes, video
pulled from online
media coverage is
posted to YouTube

7. US Airways Flight 1549
4:16 pm ET –
Twitter moves into
overdrive with
hundreds of tweets
on the crash

8. US Airways Flight 1549
4:21 pm ET –
Multiple
photostreams
appear on Flickr

9. US Airways Flight 1549
4:22 pm ET –
Up to 90+
articles online
within 40+ min

10. US Airways Flight 1549
4:23 pm ET –
US Airways site
45+ minutes
after incident

11. US Airways Flight 1549
4:24 pm ET –
Continued
addition of
photos to Flickr
– 17+ added
within the hour

12. US Airways Flight 1549
4:25 pm ET –
Already mass
coverage
internet-wide,
(‘000s of
mentions across
blogs, media,
forums etc.)

13. US Airways Flight 1549
4:25 pm ET -
Twit pic / iPhone
– first mention
of citizen photos
through twitter

14. US Airways Flight 1549
4:30 pm ET –
The definitive
image of the
crisis: taken by a
Ferry commuter,
posted to Twitter
via Twitpic within
initial minutes of
incident

15. US Airways Flight 1549
4:30 pm ET –
The definitive
image of the
crisis: the
original twitter
post as provided
by Silicon Valley
Insider

16. US Airways Flight 1549
4:30 pm ET -
US Airways Site
(intermittent
service outages)

17. US Airways Flight 1549
4:30 pm ET –
Site ads are
removed from
main corporate
site

18. US Airways Flight 1549
4:33 pm ET –
more images –
Citizen and
media-
generated -
begin
aggregating
across key sites

19. US Airways Flight 1549
4:38 pm ET –
First statement
hits US Airways
site

20. US Airways Flight 1549
4:38 pm ET –
First statement
hits US Airways
site

21. US Airways Flight 1549
4:40 pm ET –
News articles hit
400+

22. US Airways Flight 1549
4:42 pm ET –
Already more
than 20+ videos
on Youtube –
primarily news
coverage (no
original video
coverage)

23. US Airways Flight 1549
4:45 pm ET –
FAA site / no
mention of
incident

24. US Airways Flight 1549
4:45 pm ET -
already 180+
comments on
national/major
media article
(USA Today)

25. US Airways Flight 1549
4:45 pm ET –
Wikipedia
tracking at
speed of media

26. US Airways Flight 1549
4:45 pm ET –
Wikipedia
tracking at
speed of media

27. US Airways Flight 1549
ONGOING –
Live video
streaming of
passenger
rescues /
commentary /
3rd party experts
etc.

28. US Airways Flight 1549
4:50 pm ET –
Story leads on
home page of
virtually every
major media
website

29. US Airways Flight 1549
5:00 pm ET –
2nd statement
from US Airways
posted to site

30. US Airways Flight 1549
5:00 pm ET –
2nd statement
from US Airways
posted to site

31. US Airways Flight 1549
Approx 5:00 pm
ET – Dark Site
launched

32. US Airways Flight 1549
5:00 pm ET –
updates
continue to feed
through major
blogs / blog
publications

33. US Airways Flight 1549
5:01 pm ET –
personal impact
statements –
how they or
people they
know have been
directly affected

34. US Airways Flight 1549
4:55 pm ET -
articles appear
on the online
impact of the
story – less than
1.5 hours after
incident

35. US Airways Flight 1549
5:01 pm ET –
3rd party sites
feed critical data
related to
incident (e.g.
FlightAware’s
tracking of the
plane)

36. US Airways Flight 1549
5:09 pm ET –
live streamed
video press
statement from
CEO

37. US Airways Flight 1549
5:25 pm ET -
350+
comments
within nearly 2
hours of incident

38. US Airways Flight 1549
5:45 pm ET –
approx.
thousands of
blog mentions
within 2+ hours

39. US Airways Flight 1549
5:55 pm ET -
diversity of
observations from
Twitter – re. media
calling for eye
witnesses, spread of
images, ambulance
chasing lawyers,
media analysis etc.

40. US Airways Flight 1549
6 pm ET - third
statement posted
by US Airways

41. US Airways Flight 1549
6 pm ET - third
statement posted
by US Airways

42. US Airways Flight 1549
6:05 pm ET –
images continue
to propagate
across the web

43. US Airways Flight 1549
6:10 pm ET –
ex-US Airways
employee
Twittering on
accident – mis-
identified as
spokesperson /
inadvertent
brand-jacking(?)

44. US Airways Flight 1549
Approx 6:31 pm
ET – Message
posted to
NYC.gov site

45. US Airways Flight 1549
6:35 pm ET –
Pilot’s web site
(found and
disseminated via
Twitter)

46. US Airways Flight 1549
Approx 6:30 pm
ET – “Ambulance
chasers” move
online (3 hours
after incident)

47. US Airways Flight 1549
6:30 pm ET –
Fourth statement
– transcript of
CEO’s media
statement posted
online

48. US Airways Flight 1549
6:30 pm ET –
Fourth statement
– transcript of
CEO’s media
statement posted
online

49. US Airways Flight 1549
Approx 7:00 pm
ET – more
photos emerge
from citizen
journalists

50. US Airways Flight 1549
By Approx 8:00
pm ET –
additional images

51. US Airways Flight 1549
As of 8:30 pm
ET- US Airways
ET-
FB group comes
to life with
messages

52. US Airways Flight 1549
AM–
Day 2 AM
Data pulled from
Flightaware to
create a map
tracking the
movements of
the aircraft

53. US Airways Flight 1549
Day 2 – More
than 39
Facebook groups
celebrating the
pilot