Fort Hood Massacre

As the tragedy of today's Fort Hood mass shooting unraveled, one common bond was the search for information. People turned to traditional network news coverage, news websites and other online resources. Concerned people and the curious are wanted to know more about the shootings. A huge source for information was Social Media.

As of tonight 12 people are dead and more than 30 have been wounded. The gunman is alive and under guard. Most shocking, the gunman has been identified as Major Nadal Hasan. Hasan is a mental health professional with the Army.

Twitter and Facebook were both used by those on Fort Hood to reconnect and check on each others whereabouts. Facebook users shared status updates on what was going on during their lock downs. Journalists used their Facebook profiles to update their followers with the latest information. Many reporters, producers and news personnel updated the situation in "real" time.

Twitter played a huge role disseminating information. Twitter had several profiles that were generating the latest information as it became available. Even the US Army sent tweets out in regards to the shootings.

It was amazing how the real time information was shared via Social media platforms. Most important was the ability for love ones to reconnect with each other. Others were able to get information about the mass shootings as it occurred.

Army officials at one point suggested that people on base to communicate by text messages. Cell phone usage was crippled during the height of the incident. This type of jammed communication took place after the mass shooting on the Virgina Tech campus.

There were countless other ways that Social Media was used. The first look at the shooter was through a picture that was found of him on the internet. Also, the Department of Defense released video showing the scene as first responders arrived. The video was able to be linked on facebook profiles and on twitter profiles.

Tonight, as details still are being sorted out, people are still using a variety of Social Media tools to get the latest information. It is comforting to know that in a time of crisis we can depend on each other through the web.