billso.com

Facebook and other social networking sites are getting more attention as the media examines how Virginia Tech implemented its crisis communication plan yesterday.

The New York Times interviewed to several people who used blogs, profiles and other tools to get information about friends and family members.

There are now over 500 memorial groups listed on Facebook, including an HPU group. BoingBoing noted that at least one TV news program (Dateline NBC) set up a Facebook group to find members who knew Seung Hui-Cho. CNN interviewed two of Cho’s former roommates today.

Virgina Tech has canceled classes for the remainder of the week, and Norris Hall has been closed for the rest of the academic year. The entire building is a crime scene. It really should be torn down and replaced with a memorial.

One last update: it now appears that 5 faculty members and 25 students were killed in Norris Hall. I neglected to mention in my last post Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, a Canadian instructor who taught French, and Christopher James Bishop, who was teaching an introductory German class when he was killed at his podium.

Chris Bishop was an Atlanta Braves fan who earned two degrees at the University of Georgia, where I earned my Ph.D. in strategic management.

I’m blogging about this situation because it hits too close to home. I earned my undergraduate degree at the College of William and Mary, which is located across the state in Williamsburg. I’ve met many people who studied or taught in Blacksburg, and my heart is heavy as I think about what happened there yesterday. There are days when it’s hard for me to walk down Fort Street Mall and feel safe. I can only hope some good comes out of all this suffering.