Students post their eyewitness accounts

Hiding in his dorm room, Virginia Tech freshman Bryce Carter did what many people his age would do in a time of crisis — he blogged.

First he assured friends he was alive. Then he posted a 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 usually dedicated to partying, the environment and Hokies sports. "Tears continue."

Members of the most wired generation in history dealt with Monday's bloody campus rampage by connecting on blogs, Facebook and other Web sites. Their eyewitness descriptions, photos and video made the trauma unfolding in the rural Virginia town immediate and visceral to millions.

Thousands of miles from the shootings, University of Southern California sophomore Charlotte Korchak received a call from her mother in Maryland — Virginia Tech, she learned, was a death scene. Rather than tie up the cellphones of friends who attend 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."

By Monday evening, more than 16,000 had flocked to Facebook's "April 16, 2007 — A Moment of Silence" discussion group.

TechSideline.com, a Web site for fans of Virginia Tech sports, turned into a makeshift meeting place where visitors could seek word about loved ones.