> At a Glance
> – Students relied on anonymous campus app Sidechat for real-time updates
> – First posts appeared 15 minutes before the university alert
> – Nearly 8,000 posts documented the 36-hour lockdown
> – Why it matters: Shows how social media reshapes emergency response on campuses
Brown University students shared frantic updates, shelter-in-place tips and emotional pleas on Sidechat after shots rang out during finals week, beating the school’s official alert by a quarter-hour and turning the anonymous feed into a lifeline.
The Digital First Response
At 4:06 p.m. on Dec. 13, a user asked why crowds were sprinting from the Barus and Holley building. Four minutes later another post screamed: “EVERYONE TAKE COVER … 2 PEOPLE JUST GOT SHOT.”
By the time Brown’s 4:21 p.m. alert reached 20,000 subscribers, the shooter had already left campus-information officials did not yet possess.
- Students hid under tables, barricaded doors with mini fridges and posted from darkened rooms
- One wounded student shared a hospital-bed selfie captioned #finalsweek
- International students described parents overseas unable to sleep
Information Vacuum Fills With Rumors
Posts incorrectly claimed the shooter was caught within 30 minutes; fresh “gunshots” were reported into the next day. A 28-page Google Doc emerged to collect verified updates, while professors-rarely seen on the app-urged caution.
Student quote on verification tension:
> “Frankly I’d rather hear misinformation than people not report stuff they’ve heard.”
Lockdown Toll
Students urinated in trash cans, went 10+ hours without food and drank to cope. One wrote:
> “I feel numb, tired, & about to throw up.”
After sunrise and the first snowfall, blood-donation lines formed and flowers appeared outside Barus and Holley. The campus, students said, felt irrevocably changed.
Student reflection:
> “Snow will always be bloody for me.”
Key Takeaways
- Sidechat posts outpaced official alerts, highlighting gaps in emergency communications
- Anonymous, real-time feeds can both aid and muddy crisis response
- Students prioritized speed over accuracy, then crowdsourced verification
- Emotional fallout extended globally as families tracked updates across time zones
Brown has commissioned two external reviews of its response, while students continue to process a campus that no longer feels safe beneath fresh snow.
