Michael Jackson fans stream tears online

Jul 8, 2009, 1:20 GMT

The children of Michael Jackson, at right, Paris and Prince Michael Jackson II (also known as Blanket) (at front) are comforted by their aunts Janet Jackson (L) and LaToya Jackson (2R) during the public memorial service for Michael Jackson held at Staples Center on 07 July 2009 in Los Angeles, California. Jackson, 50, the iconic pop star, died at UCLA Medical Center after going into cardiac arrest at his rented home on June 25 in Los Angeles, California. EPA/GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP POOL

San Francisco - Millions of Michael Jackson fans flocked online Tuesday to view the Los Angeles memorial service in his honour.

While streaming video views of his tribute broke a record, the peak of people following the event over the internet was less than half the number who went online to follow US President Barack Obama's election victory on November 4, according to internet video distribution firm Akamai.

Among the most popular sites were Twitter and Facebook, which teamed up with television channels to allow users to watch the memorial and post their own comments.

According to social media site Mashable, during the service, tweets related to Jackson occupied all the top 10 slots on the list of most popular Twitter topics. On Facebook the Michael Jackson memorial page grew to 7 million members, possibly making it one of the largest single followings of any public figure on the web.

'Bye MJ, it's so heartbreaking knowing that ur no longer here with us after growing up with you,' said one Facebook user. 'Michael Jackson. We will love you 4ever,' another wrote.

Yahoo said the memorial was the single-most streamed event in its history, with 5 million total streams. The second-biggest event was the inauguration of President Barack Obama, with 1.8 million total streams.

Akamai said it counted a peak of 3.9 million users per minute, compared to the peak of 7 million users it served on election night. The company said that the internet coped with the surge of interest far better than it did on June 25, when many sites crashed as surfers went online for news about Jackson's unexpected death at age 50.

'Overall, the internet is holding up great,' said Akamai spokeswoman Jennifer Donovan. 'We have not heard of any sites being down during this event.'