In times of sadness

You can’t escape disasters. Some of them are big and tragic and immediate. Some of them seem very small and ordinary. But the small ones are no less important.

Last week, a recent graduate and enrolled MBA student at Rockhurst died. It was an accident – riding in the back of a pickup truck. The local news media covered it for one day. To the outside world, it may not seem like a big deal. Unfortunately, people die every day. But on our small campus, it felt a bit different.

I don’t want to dwell on the impact this may or may not have had on the folks here. What I was struck by during this process was how important it was for me to ignore some of my social media instincts.

I saw the news unfold across Facebook and Twitter Monday morning. It started with one student – leaving messages of prayers, an RIP – and started to spread. Immediately, I had the inclination to ask: what happened? Instead of doing it publicly, I gave a heads up to my boss that something was going on. She was already in a meeting discussing how the university was going to handle his death.

So I held tight. I wanted to start sending out messages saying “I’m sorry” or “he sounds like such a great person” or “I’ll pray for his family.” That’s what Kristin, the person, would do. And, really, I’ve been cultivating a more conversational, social presence for the university. But it didn’t feel right.

Early in the afternoon, we released a formal statement and quote from the university president. I put out a message across the social channels. It spread quickly among the community – retweeted by newspeople, alumni and other community members who hadn’t been exposed to the students’ comments earlier in the day. The link to the statement on our website quickly ratcheted up 400+ clicks. It’s the most we’ve ever had on one piece of content.

Because this man’s parents were in St. Louis, we were the official local source. That’s why it was important to hold back. We needed to get confirmation and permission from the family.

It reminded me of being a journalist – balancing speed and accuracy. I wanted so badly to say something quickly, but this was not a developing situation. There was no need for immediate knowledge. Whereas, if the students were wrong and he was in the hospital recovering, it would be terribly damaging for the school’s official account to send out condolences.

I am a big believer in being a part of the community on social media – participating in a conversation, being genuine and being very responsive are important. But it is not a vacuum. It is an official face to the world. We have to responsibly manage both of those objectives.

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