The internet documents a British monarch's death — for the first time

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest serving monarch in British history, passed away yesterday at the age of 92.

This is the first time in history that a British monarch has passed away. The Queen's death has been documented, described, and analysed in a way never before done.

With most major events, there is a central hub for conversation with timelines that vary between the emotional, critical, and entertaining. TikTok gave users information about what happened during the Queen's life and what's happening now. The app has over five billion views on the #queen Elizabeth.

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The Royal Family account broke the news to the public at 6:30pm on the day.

The royal family, as well as world leaders, celebrities and others, paid tribute. The tributes posted by brands and businesses came across as odd. Think about Domino's Pizza, Crazy Frog, and the other restaurants. Some of the strange ways people found out about her death are explained in these posts.

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In the face of the news, the official accounts of the Royal Family had to change. People saw the speed with which the information arrived, the posts were added, and the titles were changed. A statement from Prince Charles, now His Majesty the King, was posted with haste, while the handles for Princes William and Kate were changed. The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge are listed on their profile.

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Specific official protocols for these accounts are now available. Many of the immediate plans following the monarch's death are related to social media. Non-essential content will not be posted if the plans are implemented. The UK government and Royal Family's website will display states of mourning, with black banners and statements on the home page.

These actions are a testament to how important social media is and how many people watch official handles and pages on a daily basis. This is a new area for the British monarchy, that policy must be used to commemorate the event. The Royal Family is an example of aninstitution having to shift with the times as digital and traditional protocols seem to be at par.

The social media page devoted to unpacking Wikipedia's strangest moments tracked how editors doctored Queen Elizabeth II's Wiki page. A niche internet account tracing the online biography of the Queen is being edited in real-time.

but there was more to do! the Queen Elizabeth II article had more than 55 edits in the next 15 minutes — changing verbs to past tense, updating categories, updating the infobox, etc

— depths of wikipedia (@depthsofwiki) September 9, 2022

The impact of the Queen's death on social media is the same as it was with her death. She became a kind of internet culture that was almost ubiquitous to the meme cycle and digital conversations.

Within the UK and globally, the experience of her death became a shared one. No matter what personal feelings one may have towards the Queen or the Royal Family, we can always rely on social media and the internet for commentary. Social channels became a kind of diary during the historic moment. As an era ended, jokes, critiques, and reactions poured out on social media.