Sunday night was historic, and not just because the hunt for the CIA’s self-declared ‘north star’ of terrorism finally concluded. As word spread and details about the death of Osama bin Laden unraveled, it became evident —perhaps for the first tried and true time — just how much technology has molded human interaction and allowed information to flow effortlessly.

It has never been more obvious that technology is making permeable the membrane between borders, allowing a free flowing highway of information and multimedia that connects the globe worldwide.

Oftentimes, the most unsuspecting candidates enable these connections and tidbits of information. Take, for instance, Sohaib Ather (@ReallyVirtual), better known by his self-appointed title: ‘the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.’

As a resident in the town of Abbottabad, where bin Laden’s death occurred, Ather unknowingly had a front seat to history in the making, and better yet, unwittingly shared it with the world via Twitter.

He first tweeted:’Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1am (is a rare event).’ It set the scene for something abnormal in a typically quiet town.

Ather soon followed up his initial tweet with another,ignorantly foreshadowing the news that would follow, saying:’A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S.’

Then, soon after marked the opening of the floodgates that made Ather relevant.

Keith Urbahn, chief of staff in Donald Rumsfeld’s office tweeted,’So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn,’ preempting news reports on the topic. This tweet made it news —social media made it news.

According to a poll orchestrated by Mashable, out of those who responded, 31 percent of people found out about bin Laden’s death through Twitter. Facebook nabbed second place, notifying 19 percent of people.

As news of bin Laden’s death led to news of President Barack Obama’s address, social media outlets became the driving force behind not only public interaction, but the dissemination of reports from official news sources.

The ability of the news to travel so far, in such a short amount of time, allowed people to witness Obama’s live speech. Links to live streams enabled people unable to reach a television to view the address from their computers.

Images of New York Fire Department firefighters in the spot where it all began came to haunt hundreds of eyes; video of crowds forming in decided union lent a certain shade of hope.

It pushed college students out of libraries from Penn State to Boston College to rally, and working professionals out of their beds to participate in celebratory gatherings at ground zero and in front of the White House.

And for the first time,news has ceased to be something born and bred of planned reports and limited information. It has become something of the people and for the people, so unbelievably accessible at ones very fingertips in the most literal way possible.

What makes this all the more fascinating is, when juxtaposed with how information flowed during harrowing 9/11 attacks almost a decade ago, it’s evident just how much of a difference the existence and capabilities of social media really do make.

Instead of being stuck in the dark with few answers and dim prospects, we can foster and disseminate our own light. After all, to be informed is to understand, to understand is to accept, and to accept is to embrace.

So, taking a closing line from the president’s Sunday evening address, social media is enabling connection, and subsequently: ‘liberty and justice for all.’

Jessica Smith is a junior information management and technology and television, radio and film dual major. She can be reached at jlsmit22@syr.edu.

Published on May 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm