Giant Bomb Trends On Twitter, Scaring Unsuspecting Users, Amusing Fans

Well, folks, one of every gamer's favorite rare social media occurrences happened once again yesterday -- an un-captioned trending story about video game news site Giant Bomb managed to throw unsuspecting Twitter users into a frenzy, sparking fear and concern about a very imminent (and very fictitious) catastrophic explosion. 

Yesterday afternoon, beloved Giant Bomb Content Producer Abby Russell announced that she would be leaving the company at the end of November after finalizing the site's sale to Red Ventures. "The rumors are true!" Russell wrote on Twitter.  "I am choosing not to continue over with Giant Bomb after things carry over with the sale. My last day will be 11/30, so we still have lots more time to hangout! I've been a Content Producer with GB for almost 4 years and I'm very thankful for my time here!"

As fans flocked to social media to wish Russell luck in her future endeavors, the term "Giant Bomb" began gaining traction on Twitter, ominously appearing sans-description in the trends sidebar, scaring the living hell out of many users unfamiliar with the site. This is 2020, after all -- a giant bomb seems like the next logical progression in what has already been a massive dumpster fire of a year. 

"'GIANT BOMB' is trending and it reminds me that 2020 isn't over yet," wrote user @TheAngryElf_13 attaching a gif of a nuclear explosion. 

"You can't just make things like "giant bomb" trend in 2020 without some kind of disclaimer," added user @gay_pnw.

As some flocked to investigate this theoretical explosion, other users chose to sit this round out, seemingly fed up with the events of the past year. "i personally choose not to check why Giant Bomb is trending in 2020, and will let whatever happens wipe me out in blissful ignorance," posted user @Stryxo.

Yet after dozens...

... and dozens ...

... and dozens...

... and dozens of users took to social media to express their alarm, a few sympathetic Giant Bomb fans took the time to calmly explain that the world was not, in fact, ending. 

"Hi folks Giant Bomb Is a great down to earth gaming website that started the long play format and podcasting before it was cool. They have great personalities and are a joy to watch. Vinny and Alex are the best," explained user @shaqtinshamrock attaching a "The More You Know" gif. 

That said, several Giant Bomb fans found this amusing, as they had when this trending mixup happened in the past. "I'm glad that giant bomb has once again confused a bunch of people by trending," wrote user @DuderMcBrohan. "this won't top giant bomb trending the same day ww3 did but what could." 

Who can blame them? It is kind of morbidly amusing. Moral of the story? Don't take everything you see on social media at face value -- oh, and Twitter staff, maybe consider taking @gay_pnw's suggestion and add a disclaimer when Giant Bomb does trend, you know, to avoid sparking mass hysteria of a global apocalypse. We've been through enough this year already. 

For more weird social media content, follow Carly on Instagram @HuntressThompson_ and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.