Twittering Through a Campus Lockdown

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By CATHERINE RAMPELL

Mr. Groom, an instructional-technology specialist at the University of Mary Washington, was attending a University of Richmond conference on May 6 when he was told of a gunman on the campus. He used Twitter, an instant-blogging service, for support and information. (A suspect, who police said was probably carrying a pellet gun, was later arrested.)

Q. How did you find out there was a gunman on the campus?

A. Someone actually came into the room and told us to turn off the lights, remain quiet, lock the door, and wait for further instruction. They didn't say when they warned us what the issue was. It was through Twitter and e-mail that that information got through to the group.

Q. Why did you use Twitter, and not phone calls or text messages?

A. My cellphone didn't work, because we were in the basement and didn't get reception. E-mails went just to University of Richmond staff and faculty, etc., and so I didn't get any of those. Twitter turned out to be a reliable resource for me.

Q. So others on campus were also "tweeting"?

A. Another session was going on in the room across the hall. I knew some people there who might be on Twitter, since I'd already been following many of [their Twitter posts]. At least four people in my room were on Twitter, too. One librarian had gone to get an image of the suspicious person on campus, and he used Twitter to publish the image. Many in the room who saw that signed up immediately for an account.

Q. Was the information reliable?

A. I think the logic of Twitter was to kind of make sense of what was going on as people came in and gave us information and digest what others were hearing. Others weren't locked down. We were told limited information, and this helped us learn what was happening outside of the room. We could bounce off each other what we had known and what we had been told and find out what was going on at the campus at large.

Q. Was that comforting?

A. Definitely. People were sending advice with what to do in a crisis situation, with links. Some friends wrote that they were doing a "safety dance" for me. That stuff helped break up the tension.

Q. Should universities use Twitter for security alerts?

A. Twitter is notoriously unreliable, but it provides a possibility for communication, even if it's not a panacea. Maybe if a university has a text message sent out, they could also send it to the university's Twitter. It is a great mechanism because it allows people to actually talk synchronously.