Spoof news publication The Onion decided to stir some buzz around its freshest piece by tweeting “BREAKING: Witnesses reporting screams and gunfire heard inside the Capitol building,” about an hour prior to sending other tweets that managed to pinpoint the actual prank more boldly . However, at least at first, it seems that the message didn’t get through – at least The Onion thought so.

Instead the lone tweet managed to get more serious attention. It was retweeted over 140 times, and speculation that the publication has been hacked (and even that what they wrote may actually be based real-life happenings) have been raised by everyone from regular followers to journalists.

BoingBoing reported early reactions:

“For a good 30 minutes or so, a wide range of sensible people jumped to the conclusion that the first tweet was so not-funny, it had to be the result of a hacking incident. This news site in Ireland and The Washington Post both spoke to the Onion’s New York offices just now, and confirmed that they were not hacked. “

This incident, if you will compares pretty well with the October 30, 1938 The War of the Worlds radio broadcast that managed to stir up millions of listeners, but perhaps equally notable is the impact social media – even a single tweet – can make. Real-time Twitter is perhaps the best example of that, considering examples such as how Osama Bin Laden’s death was posted on Twitter before the President and mainstream news channels managed to get the story out. It’s also interesting to see that it was Twitter that fueled the initial buzz around the operation, and managed to influence other media sources.

Nevertheless, there’s always the flip side of the coin. Social media is naturally associated with freedom of speech, but sometimes that can backlash and provide a platform for criminal or immoral activities.