• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, May 11, 2016

People are still in shock from the untimely passing of Prince on April 21 (at least in my social circles and I’m sure in others) and Facebook recently took a moment to round up all the tributes to The Purple One left by famous and ordinary people alike on the social network.

Looking at the big picture, Facebook noted that within the first 24 hours after the news broke, 39 million Facebook users took part in 117 million interactions on Facebook sharing the news, grieving and expressing condolences. His Lavender Majesty inspired heartfelt Facebook tributes from a range of figures including President Obama, Justin Timberlake, Eric Clapton, and Erykah Badu, as well as legions of ordinary folks.

Reflecting the rise of Facebook as a publishing and distribution platform, news organizations were also quick to post news and updates to their Facebook channels. TMZ (which first broke the news) led the way, as boss Harvey Levin took to Facebook Live almost immediately and shared his reactions in a rare personal interlude, noting that Prince’s loss compounded the recent death of David Bowie, another pioneering musician who turned existence into art.

Meanwhile NPR took to Live to take a look at the phenomenon of mass mourning for musicians, placing Prince’s passing in the context of the passing of Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, and MTV recapped all the obstacles overcome and barriers transcended by the genre-bending, occasionally nameless genius.

Other news orgs using Facebook Live to cover the event included People, CNN, Billboard, E! News, and the local CBS affiliate in Minneapolis, where Prince lived, among others. On the text front, The New York Times shared an article venerating his guitar chops as displayed in an epic three-minute guitar solo during his performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at his induction to the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.