With the harsh news that Steve Jobs had died at age 56 on Wednesday night, millions of people around the globe flooded the digital world that the revered Apple co-founder helped shape, tweeting in record numbers and spiking the sales of Jobs biographies. Here, a look at the "record-breaking" response, by the numbers:
10,000
Tweets per second about Jobs' death Wednesday night, a new record. It's "the biggest online reaction to any event in recent history," says The Economic Times.
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8,868
Tweets per second during Beyonce's 2011 MTV Video Music Awards performance, during which she revealed she was pregnant — the previous record
5,000
Tweets per second following the death of Osama bin Laden
493
Tweets per second following the death of Michael Jackson
2.8 million
Tweets about Steve Jobs from the announcement of his death Wednesday until 9:30 am ET Thursday, according to social search engine Topsy
11
Number of trending Twitter searches related to Jobs' death Thursday morning, including #iSad and #ThankYouSteve, says CBC News
8
Number of Google's Top 10 trending search terms Thursday morning that were related to Steve Jobs
2
Rank overnight on Google of the trending search term "pancreatic cancer," making it "clear that Jobs' legacy is increasing awareness," says Brafton News
41,700
Percentage increase in advance sales of Walter Isaacson's biography, Steve Jobs, following the visionary's death Wednesday, according to Tech Flash
418
Sales rank of the book on Amazon.com before skyrocketing to number one overnight
28
Number of days the release of the biography has been pushed up by publisher Simon & Schuster due to increased demand following Jobs' death
30,700
Percentage increase in advance sales of George Beahm's book, I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words, a collection of quotes that will be released Nov. 8
53
Peak ranking of Beahm's book on Amazon.com Thursday afternoon
112,808
Previous ranking of Beahm's book before Jobs' death, according to The Next Web
4
Percentage increase in Apple's share price early Thursday morning, to $384, says Don Reisinger at CNET. But, notes The Wall Street Journal, the price was down 0.3 percent by 1 p.m.
Sources: Brafton, CBC News, CNET, Economic Times, Next Web, Tech Flash, Wall Street Journal
Editor's Note: This article originally inaccurately described the book I, Steve: Steve Jobs in His Own Words as a biography. It has since been revised. We regret the error.
