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The world lost a luminary of television, journalism and politics earlier this month with the death of "Meet the Press" anchor Tim Russert. I first heard of Russert's passing at around 5:00 pm on June 13, as whispers spread throughout my floor at work. I assumed this was news that was just breaking, however I later learned that word first got out nearly two hours earlier.

Consider the timeframe here. Russert arrived at a Washington DC hospital at 2:23. His Wikipedia page was updated with his death at 3:01. Wow.

That seems like an incredibly short period to me, especially since NBC was making efforts to hold off on an announcement until Russert's family (abroad in Italy) could be notified. In this case, buzzings throughout the social media realm predated Russert's own network. Despite an outpouring of Twitter users discussing the matter early on, CNN's official presence on Twitter held off on its announcement until the day after Russert died.

The rapid speed at which the online community took command of this story was reminiscent of actor Heath Ledger's passing earlier this year. Everyone's favorite satirical news site, The Onion, actually wrote an article lampooning this. In 2007, the speedy dissemination of information on Wikipedia took a decidedly creepy turn when the wife of ill-fated WWE wrestler Chris Benoit was reported dead on the site hours before her body was found. Understandably, the mysterious page update became a major source of controversy - more details about which can be found here.

It goes without saying that the world of social media is reliant on speed. In an era where you can first read breaking news on Twitter, you may also find yourself discovering your friend has become engaged amongst the clutter of your Facebook newsfeed.

Is all of this impersonal? Sure. Maybe even a bit weird? You could argue that. But, as a wise friend of mine will often tell me, it is what it is. Amen.