Early on Monday, Sept. 16, the district sent out alerts that Santa Ana College was closed until further notice for a homicide investigation. By 6:30 a.m., student reporters were posting the notice on social media, retweeting official police accounts and sharing verified info from other news outlets while they worked to contact authorities. By 8:30 a.m. an el Don reporter and photographer were on scene, capturing images and quotes from students who did not receive the alert and came to school despite the campus being closed. Social Media Editors posted videos from the scene on Instagram Stories and in a developing Twitter thread, resulting in a 30 times increase in engagement with hundreds of views and dozens of shares. By 9 a.m. a news article was posted on the website and the link shared to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, again to hundreds of link clicks and shares. The school’s official social media accounts was not posting updates, so el Don became the main source of information on this incident for the public. Afterward, we used social media storytelling to show people step by step how they can make sure they are receiving alerts so that no one comes to campus during a potentially dangerous situation again. On the day of the breaking news, we had triple the amount of accounts reached and 100 times the amount of average engagement as we do with most of our posts. We gained more than 50 followers.
Social media posts from el Don’s breaking news coverage (from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) are presented in chronological order:
This morning’s email from Campus Safety and Security: pic.twitter.com/1H6HLwLJbN
— el Don News (@eldonnews) September 16, 2019
Car jumped retaining wall near Lot 6 about 1am, man inside pronounced dead of gunshot wound.
— el Don News (@eldonnews) September 16, 2019
Campus will remain closed until scene is cleared. ⛔️ pic.twitter.com/LIoCnyomKP
What we know so far about the fatal shooting and car crash that canceled classes this morning.
— el Don News (@eldonnews) September 16, 2019
📸: @AshleyRamynke https://t.co/v2ohkjypHV
Below: Video compilation of Instagram Stories from throughout the day and from follow-up coverage.
Just received confirmation that campus is now safe and will reopen at 5pm today.
— el Don News (@eldonnews) September 16, 2019
*Night classes are NOT canceled.* pic.twitter.com/izuNgzRDwU
In addition to official posts, el Don social media editors informed the public by responding to questions received via Direct Message and posted on the official Santa Ana College Twitter account.
Below: Social media posts for follow-up/enterprise reporting on the effectiveness of the emergency alert system. Social Media Editors created a custom step-by-step for students and posted it to each platform.
When the campus was closed due to homicide investigation, more than 32,000 people were sent alerts through the district’s emergency notification system but not everyone received them. District officials are urging people to check their info on WebAdvisor.https://t.co/XzvuW6Mfkg
— el Don News (@eldonnews) October 1, 2019
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