In the media frenzy over the Virginia Tech shootings, it seems that taste and decency took a back seat to deadlines and immediacy.

More than any other medium, the internet is capable of capturing the essence of humanity, however real, raw, disturbing or inspiring it may be at any given time.

Even with the "boomlet" of reality programming over the past decade, television is rarely real. Despite occasional foolishness, fraud and fakery, the internet more often than not is all too real with unedited passion, images and emotion, straight from human beings, like the ones sitting right next to you.

We have become a much more connected society as a result of social networks like MySpace and Facebook. Sites such as these have allowed individuals to socialize, communicate and organize at unprecedented speed and volume. They have also played important roles in helping us gather information and cope and grieve in times of tragedy and crisis, such as the harrowing events at Virginia Tech.

Just as millions flocked to message boards on Sept. 11, and victims of Hurricane Katrina provided the world with user-generated images of the devastation posted to blogs, in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, social networking sites, especially Facebook, were the place where students went to see if their friends and loved ones were alright. 

In the case of the Virginia Tech shootings, social networks also served as virtual places to mourn and remember the lives of those lost. The raw, emotional and uniquely "public" display of these interactions on social networks quickly became fodder for news coverage as journalists used these sites as sources for information on the victims and turned to them for new and unique leads on stories. 

As the internet often times reflects both the best and worst of humanity, some amazing and disturbing actions in the days following the tragedy in Blacksburg give us reason to examine the expectation of privacy -- or at a minimum respect -- on social networks built upon the premise of connecting and sharing personal information (albeit publicly) with others online.

In the hours following the shootings, students used blogs, websites and social networking sites to communicate their whereabouts to each other and their families. On the blog God Bless Virginia Tech, one such individual inquired: "Any info on Lauren McCain please IM j***********2 ASAP."

A Facebook group called "I'm OK at VT" implored students to "Let all your friends know you are OK today." 

Scores of support groups appeared on social networking sites in the days that followed, and a generation defined by the proliferation of technology began to use it for a new purpose: to publicly mourn.

Virtual memorials
Several victims’ MySpace and Facebook pages were converted into virtual memorials, new pages honoring the victims were created by loved ones, and countless people changed their avatars to the Virginia Tech memorial ribbon. In addition, hundreds of user-generated groups were formed, many of which have thousands of members or more. A group named "A Tribute to Those Who Passed at the Virginia Tech Shooting" had more than 362,000 members on April 23. Interestingly, several dozen groups focusing on the killer, Cho Seung-Hui, also sprang up like weeds in a garden of tributes to the victims.

A group named "Cho Seung Hui, If You Had a MySpace, Tom wouldn't be your friend" (Tom is the automatic first friend for all 170 million members) gave some people the opportunity to answer back to the killer with their own multi-media rants. 

Next: Invasion of privacy?