9 Articles Examine Social Media Impact on School Shootings

This report examines the systematic use of social media as an emergency management tool which may include using platforms like Twitter to issue warnings or share updates, using social media to send aid to victims, communicate with impacted constituencies, and share images to visually communicate the damage. Social media is being used as a platform to expedite responses and aid during emergencies, and this report examines how organizations have benefited from its use.

In the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida school shooting, lawmakers paid attention to the students' and broader community's demands that resulted in the creation of a centralized database to combine records from Florida's law enforcement and social services agencies with an individual's own social media accounts. The need for this action was long overdue and definitely warranted in light of the crisis that played out over social media and could have possibly been avoided.

A recent article examines extensive research conducted about mass shootings, correlations between social media and a shooter's actions, and how social media played an important role in this research. Using a scientific approach, the authors provide insight about the potential for future shootings.

Students who lived through the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting share their memories, fears, and hopes in this book that compiles their story and their collective determination to never let a school shooting happen again. From their time inside the walls of their classrooms to the aftermath and grieving process, the authors share their raw emotions and unequivocal commitment to their cause.

Noting the relatively new communications approach through social media, the authors acknowledge that an affected community within a school is likely to post information on social media channels without knowing if it is entirely accurate or not. Putting aside the headache this causes for the School's Communications and Public Information Offices, the fact that social media is the preferred communications means by audiences is core to the argument of making social media the preferred means of communication by the school, and therefore meeting publics where they are.

This article explores the essential need for social media as part of crisis communications plans in schools, the advantages, disadvantages, and the reality of the power of the medium today.

Even though this article does not deal directly with a school shooting, there are multiple kinds of school crises that are either magnified or resolved using social media. In 2012, the University of Virginia dealt with changes in leadership which played out over social media channels. This article shows how critical it is to be present, listen, and to engage everywhere stakeholders are talking about an organization. In this crisis, social media was the tool that forced transparency
and corrective decisions from the UVA board.

This article examines the importance of collective intelligence during a school disaster and the public's reaction from the time that the shooting began to the point when it ended. This article addresses the social arrangements for managing the decentralized, distributed problem-solving which occurred outside official channels during the time of crisis. With the public's cooperation and support, information was gathered in near real-time and funneled to the central point of operations.

The first-hand accounts of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting created a shift in public perception of how social media is used and can aid emergency responders. Students are on the front lines and are agile users of smartphones and social media which makes them ad hoc journalists with significant responsibility to "get it right". Collectively, by sharing information, they helped law enforcement and curtailed the length of the tragedy.