From the uprisings in Egypt to the disasters in Japan, compelling events over the last several months have shown us the future of information sharing. Nowhere was that more apparent than in the story of Bin Laden’s death. But this evolution of information sharing isn’t just a discussion for academics and thought leaders; it also provides real-world lessons for companies. Magdalena Georgieva, on HubSpot Blog, shares The Online Anatomy of a Spreading Story, which gleans marketing takeaways from the way the Bin Laden event was shared:

• Use Twitter to generate interest. The first hint of this major event (not including the inadvertent live tweets from a raid witness) came from Twitter, when White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer used the social media site to announce that President Obama would address the nation late Sunday night. Magdalena writes he generated significant media and public interest with that single Tweet.
• Facebook is a valuable channel for news gathering. Magdalena, like 20% of respondents in one Mashable poll, learned about the story from chatter on Facebook. While I learned about the upcoming address online and then watched it on TV, my next stop was Facebook so I could post as well as see what everyone else was saying.

I’d like to share another social media takeaway:

• Listen! Compelling stories spread faster than ever. Brands that don’t monitor the online world could find a perception-killing, stock-price-dropping story becoming an out-of-control PR monster in the blink of an eye.

To learn more about how the Bin Laden story inundated social channels check out “Osama’s Death Floods Web.”