While Casey Anthony may have been found ‘not guilty’ this Tuesday—the court of public opinion had decided quite the contrary long ago, reacting to the decision with an outpour of disgruntled opinions on Facebook and Twitter.
The much awaited verdict of the murder trial was reached on Tuesday when the jury found Casey Anthony, mother of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony, not guilty of first degree murder, aggravated manslaughter, and aggravated child abuse of her daughter.
The outcome left many reeling with confusion.
On Tuesday afternoon, Twitter users tweeted 34,000 updates with the term ‘Casey Anthony’, and according to MSNBC.com, almost 325,283 of updates of that day were trial-related—and had negative opinions of the verdict.
Throughout the 36 day trial, Facebook pages popped up showing support for Caylee Anthony, urging users to commemorate her death. Statuses educated users on the findings of the trials.
The sites gave an incredible testament to how public opinion is reflected heavily through these networks, as well as how they are rapidly advancing to become sources of information and systems of interacting with news coverage.
As for Casey Anthony—she remains forever guilty…on Facebook.
