In all, the three Bowie tweets and Facebook post reached 300K+ and engaged 5K+ overnight. Because our articles are detailed bios, I believe timely response to a famous person's death contributes something valuable. The community's speedy updating of the article suggests to me the desire to do so. If others agree, I can add a small section to the best practices saying:

When a famous person dies, the mainstream media confirms that, and the community has noted that on a thorough article page, a swift social media post noting the death, including a public domain photo and a bit about the person is encouraged. Examples here and here. Do not do so without consulting another member of the social media team. We do not note the death as sad or tragic or use rest in peace or other phrases. Sensitive, factual statements are best.

Thanks Joe, James, and Greg! Great job after hours putting us in the middle of a conversation where we contributed a lot, I think. 

Jeff Elder
Digital communications manager
Wikimedia Foundation
704-650-4130 
@jeffelder
@wikipedia
The Wikimedia blog

On Sun, Jan 10, 2016 at 11:47 PM, Gregory Varnum <greg.varnum@gmail.com> wrote:
They're both getting some good traction. Well done. :)

-greg

On Sun, Jan 10, 2016 at 11:28 PM, Joe Sutherland <jsutherland@wikimedia.org> wrote:
Never mind me, it was 25. Tin Machine was in two parts. ;)

On 10 January 2016 at 23:26, Jeff Elder <jelder@wikimedia.org> wrote:
Let them both go. Both good. I'll do Facebook.

Jeff Elder
Digital communications manager
Wikimedia Foundation

On Sun, Jan 10, 2016 at 11:25 PM, Jeff Elder <jelder@wikimedia.org> wrote:
I sent at same time. Didn't see this thread.

Jeff Elder
Digital communications manager
Wikimedia Foundation

On Sun, Jan 10, 2016 at 11:24 PM, Joe Sutherland <jsutherland@wikimedia.org> wrote:
Sent. Sorry to sort of overrule a little here. https://twitter.com/Wikipedia/status/686448525081579520

On 10 January 2016 at 23:24, Gregory Varnum <greg.varnum@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm okay with that approach as well. I feel a bit odd sounding like a news service - but this approach is likely to get more traction.

-greg

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On Jan 10, 2016, at 11:21 PM, Joe Sutherland <jsutherland@wikimedia.org> wrote:

I feel like a more generic tweet would work best, maybe:

* David Bowie (@DavidBowieReal), who released his 25th studio album three days ago, has died. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie

On 10 January 2016 at 23:15, Gregory Varnum <greg.varnum@gmail.com> wrote:
It being featured might be confusing to some. Perhaps

"Wikipedians are already updating the article with the latest sad news about @DavidBowieReal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie"

-greg

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On Jan 10, 2016, at 11:09 PM, James Alexander <jalexander@wikimedia.org> wrote:

I'm not sure if this the exact wording but feel like tweeting something would be good with our normal best practices recently especially given it's a featured article.

"Wikipedians are updating the, already Featured, article with the latest sad news about @DavidBowieReal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bowie"

[Fun fact Wikipedians included Joe and I for a large portion of the 'fact checking' phase trying to determine if it was real]

James Alexander
Manager
Trust & Safety
Wikimedia Foundation
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