Word of the accident spread from student to student like wildfire, but not in the conventional way. Not by word of mouth, but through the power of the Internet, news of the tragic accident reached students at Glendale, Kickapoo and around the community. Facebook, no longer just a tool for social networking, helped spread the news of the car crash and gave students a forum to express their grief.

The first Facebook group was created by junior Mindy Moffe on Saturday, Jan. 5, the evening of the accident. Moffe sent out group invitations to let everyone know about the accident.

“I didn’t know what else to do,” Moffe said. “I was already on Facebook, so it just seemed right.”

The group quickly became an informational forum. Moffe posted links to police reports on the accidents, and kept the site updated with dates and times for the funerals and visitations for each of the boys.

“I found out about the accident the next morning,” sophomore Lisa May said. “It was in my News Feed on Facebook, so I joined the group and invited a bunch of people.”

Messages were sent to the more than 1,000 group members to remind them of the candlelight memorial, the commemorative T-shirts and the banquet for the boys. As these events came and went and the reality of the situation sank in, the group became a forum for friends to share their grief.

Photos and videos of the boys were posted, and many used the group — as well as the boys’ Facebook profiles — to share favorite memories and leave a message for each boy to let him know he will be missed.