Hiding in his dorm room, Virginia Tech freshman Bryce Carter did what anyone his age would do in a time of crisis -- he blogged.
First he assured friends that he was alive. Then he posted video he shot of police cars gathering outside and still photos of sharpshooters.
"My friends could be dead," he typed on "Bryce's Journal," which is normally dedicated to partying, the environment and Hokies sports. "Tears continue."
Members of the most wired generation in history dealt with Monday's bloody rampage by connecting on blogs, Facebook and other websites. Their eyewitness descriptions, photos and video made the trauma unfolding in the rural Virginia town immediate and visceral to millions.
Thousands of miles away, University of Southern California sophomore Charlotte Korchak received a call from her mother in Maryland -- people had been killed at Virginia Tech. Rather than tie up the cellphones of friends at the school, the 19-year-old history major checked their pages on Facebook, the social-networking site.
"I was able to immediately find out who was OK," she said. "Without Facebook, I have no idea how I would have found that out."
Every tragedy now seems accompanied by an outpouring of grief and solidarity on the Internet -- a torrent of news, rumor, photos, cellphone videos and instant opinion. So was the case Monday, as the death toll climbed to 33.
For many college students, this could become their defining tragedy. Most were only in grade school or middle school during the Columbine High School massacres of 1999 and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks two years later.
By Monday evening, more than 16,000 had flocked to Facebook's "April 16, 2007 -- A Moment of Silence" discussion group. Other impromptu memorial groups drew thousands of members each.
"Since the launching of Facebook, there's probably nothing that has impacted the college audience as this has," said Brandee Barker, a spokeswoman for the 3-year-old site.
On Monday, TechSideline.com, a website for fans of Virginia Tech sports, turned into a meeting place where visitors could seek word about loved ones.
"It allows you to feel closer to the situation," said Robert Niles, editor of USC's Online Journalism Review and a former Rocky Mountain News reporter who covered the Columbine killings. "To see that there is a functioning community is very reassuring to people who are disturbed by something as horrible as this."
