To second Jordan's thoughts on SNS and the Virginia Tech tragedy, I also noticed the quick rise of groups, events and changed profile pictures on Facebook. What I noticed in particular was the power Facebook offered to people seeking information on their friends. The group "I'm ok at VT" was created within a few hours of the shootings for people who survived the attacks to let others know that they were okay. It has evolved into a message board for people still seeking information on loved ones, a list of the confirmed victims and as a general posting board of condolences offered from other, non-Virginia Tech Facebook users.
Another VT connection with this class' topic is the earlier post I'd written on main-stream media "blogs" versus "amateur" bloggers. Virginia Tech's Collegiate Times student newspaper maintained a constantly updated information list on its website about the shootings while the attack was occurring. The site is still being updated with information as it becomes available and has been a source widely used by the mainstream news outlets seeking information. And these obviously aren't journalists with degrees (yet).
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2 comments:
thanks for linking to my post this is such a serious issue but its great to see a community coming to gether and through SNS allowing the entire country to come together...But SNS sites let parerents see up to date information when communcation with there loved ones was diffucult...
I think that this also speaks to the power that Facebook and other SNS sites, that everyone went online instead of doing mass callings or emails.
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