When hospitals, police officers and school officials—even traditional media outlets—failed to get the word out, Facebook became the go-to source for information on missing students at Virginia Tech.
As friends and family desperately tried to find the whereabouts of VT students, there was only one source that posted partial lists of the injured, the missing, or the dead: Facebook.
Groups such as “I’m OK at VT” were created to alert parents and friends unable to contact students that they were all right.
It also served as a message board for anyone with information on students’ whereabouts during the aftermath of the shootings. They’ve since been replaced with memorial sites.
As CNN and Fox News broadcast b-roll and officials stonewalled efforts by concerned friends to get information, thousands turned to Facebook to get the details of what happened: class schedules for Norris Hall, hospital lists, etc.
These lists matched those broadcast on TV two days later.
Surprisingly, these groups also helped quell initial panic by creating a community and opening up a dialogue among students—where we could talk about the loss of our friends with those who had been in proximity to them in their final moments.
“Im crushed on so many levels,” wrote a VT student who I was corresponding with on facebook in an effort to determine the whereabouts of a friend of mine. “But i want the little truth i do know to be shared.”
melissah @ Sat, 04/28/2007 - 11:32pm
Not to discount the incident at VT, but excuse my ensuing pessimism regarding Facebook. Honestly, I find networks or groups on FB to be kind of stupid.
I think the online/internet grieving or mourning is a cop-out. I'm not saying there isn't news value or purpose in them (they're great to disseminate information). But, in my opinion, there is absolutely no sacrifice and minimalistic thought put into the FB VT/mourning groups. It's a substitute for grieving. How does a blurb such as an apology for VT's loss compare to truly reaching out and memorializing an incident or death?
Also, I suppose I've never questioned it until now, but FB plans to delete the profiles/pictures/groups of the deceased students at VT. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one level, it shows how completely transient FB is (as are its groups), yet FB is so large, that keeping profiles of the every deceased is like letting cemeteries overrun cities.
It's something to think about...