From “live tweets” and the Titanic's real wireless transmissions, to tweets asking whether the Titanic really existed beyond the big-screen, Twitter was abuzz this weekend as the world commemorated the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the “unsinkable” ship.
With over 100 000 followers, the History Press' “Titanic Real Time” Twitter account live tweeted the tragedy from beginning to end. Starting on 10 March, the account used all available research to provide historically accurate tweets from the first person perspective of the crew, passengers, captain and engineers.
Marking the exact moment of impact, TitanicRealTime tweeted: “#captain *COLLISION WITH ICEBERG* Just been woken by a tremendous crashing sound, what is going on out there?”
Followers on Twitter became increasingly involved in the minute-by-minute updates. A parody account named “Titanic Iceberg” replied to one of the tweets saying: “I told you guys to stop. Why didn't you listen. We should exchange information.”
A similar live feed was also tweeted by the RMS Titanic account, of RMS Titanic Inc and Expedition Titanic. One of the final tweets stated: “April 15th 3:00AM: Water became quiet; screams from the water stopped.”
The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic (part of the Nova Scotia Museum) also turned to Twitter to relive the event with a special “broadcast”, tweeting the original wireless transmissions of the Titanic and those of the ships that responded to her distress calls.
Correct to the minute, using the hashtag “TitanicMMA” the museum tweeted the transmissions, which included: “Titanic says, 'We have struck an iceberg and sinking. Please tell Captain to come.' #TitanicMMA”
“Titanic tells Olympic, 'We are putting passengers off in small boats. Women and Children in boats, cannot last much longer. #TitanicMMA”
It was real?!
While the reliving of the event online struck a chord with many social media users, some of the younger generation were left somewhat confused. Tweets from teenagers who thought the Titanic only existed in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster film, included the following:
“Up until about 10 minutes ago I didn't know that Titanic was based on a real life sorry... Oopps!” (sic)
“Is it bad that I didn't know the Titanic was real? Always thought it was just a film.”
“Nobody told me the Titanic was real? How am I just finding this out?”
The tweets sparked outrage online as other users berated the teenagers for their ignorance. Some of the responses to the tweets included:
“Children of today: Didn't know who Whitney Houston was, didn't realize the Titanic was real. Our future is in peril.”
“To the teens who didn't know that Titanic was real until after seeing the film this weekend, please start to cherish your education.”
“People on Twitter didn't know Titanic was real. I don't want to live on this planet anymore.”
Some were less forgiving than others: “If you honestly didn't know the Titanic was real, you are what's wrong with the world, and you should literally kill yourself.”
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