Shooting puts New Emergency procedures and social media to the test at Virginia Tech

When officials of Virginia Tech University found themselves initiating emergency alerting procedures in response to an on-campus shooting recently, it could only have been a grim reminder of the tragic event of April 2007 where a gunman killed 33 people on the campus.

Using Twitter, text messages and e-mail, as well as a website alert, this time officials immediately announced a complete campus lockdown, which continued every 30 minutes until the lockdown ended later Thursday evening.

"Gun shots reported-Coliseum parking lot.  Stay inside. Secure doors.  Emergency personnel responding.  Call 911 for help." was the very first Twitter issued by official school sources.  The following tweet was, "Suspect described as white male, gray sweat pants, gray hat w/neon green brim, maroon hoodie and backpack.  On foot towards McComas.  Call 911."

Ironically, the shooting occurred on the same day that the university was appealing a $55,000 fine imposed by the U.S. Department of Education for violating emergency notification regulations in the 2007 incident.  Since the '07 shootings the university has substantially improved its emergency response procedures by incorporating social media, mobile phone and website alerts.

In truth, this was not this was the first time Virginia Tech's new procedures have been put to the test.  This past August a gun man was reported on campus which initiated a five-hour lockdown of all facilities.  In that case, however, no gunman was ever discovered.