I lay in bed mindlessly flipping through channels on the “tube,” thinking of the upcoming final for which I had to study and everything I had to accomplish for work when the news hit: “Osama bin Laden…Dead.” I sat in anticipation, as most of my fellow Americans did, waiting for over an hour for the President to deliver his speech concerning this matter. It was relieving news that unfortunately kept me up until midnight.

I awoke the next morning, groggy from staying up so late, and headed back to work. On the radio, the topic of discussion was, “Osama bin Laden killed by American forces.” After opening my email at work, I noticed a message from a LinkedIn update email: “Osama bin Laden’s Compound Already Mapped on Google,” and “Bin Laden’s Death Spread like Wildfire on Twitter.”

It shocks me that Social Media has erupted on such a level. I started thinking about 10 years ago and where we stood with technology. On Sept. 11, that fateful day in which the twin towers came crumbling down, it took my school almost two hours to hear the news and spread it from classroom to classroom. Social media was a term no one had used or even heard of yet.

Fast forward to the first news of Osama bin Laden’s death, which was broadcast on Twitter, and his hideout had been added to Google Maps. So, are technology and Social Medial really important? Are you using Twitter to spread the news of your company? Is your organization able to be located on Google Maps?