Half of Americans heard within an hour

April 19, 2013, 3:18 PM GMT+0

A third of Americans had heard of the Boston bombings within half an hour after they happened and half the country knew about them within an hour

While details are still emerging about the bombing at the Boston Marathon on Monday, new research from YouGov US shows that word of the incident spread incredibly fast.

35% of Americans reported having heard about the bombing within half an hour, while 87% report having heard about them within six hours.




Futhermore, 12% of Americans reported knowing someone in Boston at the time of the explosions who they were concerned about. Among those who knew people in Boston, the most popular method to make sure friends and family were okay included Facebook (cited by 39%), phone call (30%) and text message (26%).