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April 17, 2007, 03:58 PM ET
Students Turn to Facebook for Information on Their Friends
For the past few years students at Virginia Tech have used Facebook to look up classmates, share photographs, and engage in all manner of online tomfoolery. Yesterday they turned to the popular social network as a source of information and comfort.
More than 3,000 people joined a Facebook group called “I’m ok at VT,” which students used first to announce that they were safe, then to ask for details about peers left unaccounted for, and finally to report the names of the deceased. The group’s “wall” — a sort of public discussion board — provided, for many students, the most reliable and most quickly-updated information on the fates of the people in Virginia Tech’s Norris Hall.
“I transferred to [Old Dominion University], so I’m safe,” wrote a student whom others had been asking about. “Does anyone know any news of Steven Christ?” asked another student, who returned to the online group just 11 minutes later to report that Mr. Christ was unharmed.
At times students posted dubious information, identifying peers rumored to have passed away or classmates who were supposedly somewhere safe. Those posts down were quickly pulled down by the group’s administrator. “If you are not absolutely positive about the condition of a student, don’t say anything at all,” another student said. “We don’t need to build up hope only to have it shot down.” — Brock Read
Categories: Student-Life
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