Irwin's Turtle

You're probably already aware of Steve Irwin's tragic death. It's all over the web, and here in Kuala Lumpur, it received significant coverage especially over the airwaves. The primetime radio talkshows used it as a main talking point, and JJ & Rudy (Hitz.FM) even went to the extent of giving out prizes on air using the untimely death as their theme for the morning quiz (JJ & Rudy's Top 5 Ways to Find Out If You're Cool Quiz - what a mouthful!).

Late this evening I noticed a trend which I believe must be developing over the Net, or at least on some parts of the MSN network. A bunch of my contacts on MSN have modified their nicks (a.k.a display name) to include the turtle (tu) emoticon as a prefix. The screenshot below depicts part of my contacts list.




I'm not sure why the turtle was chosen, nor do I know who initiated it. A possible theory is that the MSN emoticons list does not include a crocodile which is what Steve was best known for (Crocodile Hunter). The next closest associated animal is probably the turtle; after all, he had a turtle named after him - Irwin's Turtle a.k.a Elseya Irwini.

It's interesting to note the way we pay tributes to those we recognise and respect. This particular case may just be a fad, but it does indicate that the Net has a strong viral effect that can snowball towards generating phenomenal awareness of certain events and issues.

Some interesting reads:

• Notable quotes from Steve Irwin
• The Crocodile Hunter - the popular wildlife documentary television series
• 176-year-old ‘Darwin’s tortoise’ dies in zoo
• MSN Messenger emoticons - including a bunch of secret emoticons
• The culture of participation by Erick Schonfeld (thanks Dinesh!)
  
• Viral marketing