My cousin's Facebook profile provides me and others with constant updates on his feelings after the tragedy. Screen Grab and Illustration: Nate McGinnis
Walking into the newsroom at The University Daily Kansan yesterday, I was immediately confronted with a group of people circled around the television watching the chaotic scene at Virginia Tech.
Damn, I thought. Virginia Tech. My uncle lives in Virginia. His son, my cousin, goes to Virginia Tech.
At that moment, the worst possible thoughts engulfed my brain. How could I find out if he was all right? I didn't want to overreact, but as the death toll kept getting higher, I had to find out if he was okay.
That was when I figured out how I could learn of his safety. I would use the most ubiquitous tool on college campuses, Facebook. I went to a computer and pulled up his Facebook profile to see if there was any information on his safety, and it was there I found my solace in nine simple words.
His status read, "Ryan is fine but without a cell phone signal."
Right there on the Web was all I needed to know. He was fine and I had nothing to worry about.
CNN reported later in the day that Facebook had been used by a number of students to inform one another of their well being. One, group "I'm okay at VT" sprang up after the shooting and had several thousand members by the end of the day. It appeared as though several students had the same idea as me. People wanted to know if they were all right, and Facebook was the most effective way to let them know.
Later in the day, ever the news hound, I exploited the power of Facebook once again to see if my cousin would talk to a Kansan reporter for a front-page story we were working on.
My cousin said no because he was sleeping during the incident. But his roommate, Christopher, who was in a building across the street from the shooting, was willing to speak. Could he pass along the reporter's information and have Chris give him a call?
About an hour later, our reporter had Chris on the phone getting a firsthand account of what had happened. To the best of my knowledge, The Kansan article was the only piece of campus media to have an interview with a student from Virginia Tech.
And that was how my day unfolded. The same Web site I use to post pictures of my vacations and write drunken messages to friends allowed me to confirm the safety of my cousin and set-up an interview with a witness. People like to knock social networking sites such as Facebook, but yesterday proved that in my generation they can be used effectively to provide comfort in times of tragedy.
Leave a comment