Social media utilized in revolutionary search for and remembrance of beloved alumnus Brett Olson
Aislinn McNiece and Michael Wang
Feature Editor and Opinion Editor
Juliana Del Beccaro and Shane Wright, both friends of Brett Olson from the Acalanes class of 2010, spoke at the candlelight vigil held at Acalanes. Both alumni played integral roles in the development of the Facebook page "Let's Bring Brett Home."
In the face of tremendous tragedy, hundreds of Lafayette citizens united as a strong, supportive community of friends and family. They held hands in the back field of Acalanes in a show of solidarity, faces illuminated by candlelight and stained with tears.
However, the community had actually been brought together long before the candlelit vigil (see Vigil story on page N1) with the help of social media.
The tragic disappearance and death of beloved 20-year-old community member, Acalanes alum, and rising Cal Poly junior Brett Olson, who was born and raised in Lafayette, shocked the Lamorinda community. On Sunday, September 2, Olson disappeared while on Chico's Labor Day Sacramento River float. One week later, Olson's body was found in the river.
Juliana Del Beccaro, another student in the graduating class of 2010 and a longtime friend of Olson, created the Facebook group "Let's Bring Brett Home" on Tuesday, September 4, two days after he went missing. Over the course of that week, over 100,000 followers congregated on the Facebook group to spread awareness and support.
"We caught the media's attention, and the media couldn't really ignore us even if they wanted to," said Del Beccaro. I think that really put a lot of pressure on the Chico police department and the community to really help look into the search because a lot of people were aware of it and so many people were following the story that it couldn't really just be let go."
Del Beccaro could not have been more correct, as social media sites soon began to lead the search.
"The Facebook group was crucial to every step of our volunteer efforts," said Shane Wright, a close friend of Olson's who graduated alongside him with the class of 2010. "It raised so much awareness that dozens of people within Chico, many of whom had no affiliation with Brett, would show up to help at every volunteer event we created. The efficiency and connectivity that the social media created was the foundation of everything we did."
Facebook provided the core base to spread awareness and support online. Meanwhile, the hashtag "#findBrettOlson" proliferated on Instagram and Twitter.
"Social media made this a much more real experience for me. That was how I first heard about Brett's disappearance," said senior Maya Patrose. "It was so incredible seeing tens of thousands of people banding together on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and numerous other social networking sites, getting the word out."
On Twitter, the hashtag, a technological tool to categorize Tweets and make them more searchable, became a Trending Topic in the San Francisco Bay Area. The tag, "#findBrettOlson," was one of the most-retweeted topics on Twitter during that week.
Multiple celebrities, including Olympian Kerri Walsh, Disney pop star Miley Cyrus, and the Bay Area band Starting Six, tweeted and Instagrammed "#findBrettOlson," demonstrating the vast amount of support social media enabled.
"The celebrity hashtags were a way of simplifying what we all felt," said freshman Tess Olsson, a longtime friend of the Olson family. "Nobody really knew what to say, so the hashtags were a way to show that you supported the family and that you cared. It was another way to be part of that community."
"Let's Bring Brett Home" grew constantly and became a forum for tens of thousands of posts, comments, photos, and likes. The group gave Olson's friends and family a way to easily contact and inform almost four times as many people as the population in Lafayette. Droves of people offered their condolences, shared stories, and even volunteered to help in the search effort.
The group quickly grew to include over 100,000 members. Regardless of whether or not the members knew Olson, they couldn't help but feel drawn towards the hopeful and supportive atmosphere of the online community.
"Even though I never personally met Brett, I know other people who knew him and I was really tuned into what was going on through the Facebook page," said junior Liza Horn. "It was really nice to be constantly aware of what was going on through the page."
Although popularizing topics of discussion is an integral piece of Twitter, the impact of such social media-based is constantly changing.
"The way Facebook is used is an expression of millions and millions of users, not Mark Zuckerberg," said Arthur Combs, who analyzes the effects of social media in business for Schaffer and Combs in San Francisco. "[Zuckerberg] crafted it, he made it possible, but people change it and utilize it for how they need it."
While most social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, originated as a means of communicating with friends and staying up to date with acquaintances' lives, the sites have developed into something far deeper.
"Mark Zuckerberg thought [Facebook] was a way for people in college to communicate and keep in touch; there is no way he had any clue that he would be changing the face of the web," said Combs.
Facebook is often characterized as a distraction and a time-killer. In a community's mission to find a lost member, however, the social networking site proved its potential to unite a community under a single cause.
"Facebook really connected everybody," said sophomore Daniel Erenstein. "Everybody was dedicated [to] one purpose, and that purpose was to find Brett Olson and bring him home,."
Though the group's primary purpose was to spread awareness of the situation, it managed to grow beyond anything its creators and members could have imagined.
"The 'Bring Brett Home' page opened a lot of our eyes to the potential of what social media can do to help others and not just have it be a place to put your fleeting thoughts," said Olsson.
The revolutionary power of social media is seen in the symbiotic relationship between the sites and the community. Not only did the social media involvement in Olson's search redefine Lamorinda's sense of community, but the Lafayette community took a huge step towards transforming the purpose of social media itself.
"What we have is this giant web of neutral tools to be used in whatever ways humans decide to use them," said Combs. "Social media is effective because of the way people respond to it."
In small area like Lamorinda where community members do not often show such tremendous solidarity, the simple feeling of hope had the power to erase dividing lines. Social media played an integral role in this union, as its infinite borders allowed people from across California to join in the search and support.
"I'm very proud of our community and I am humbled by the fact that so many people were willing to come together and support Brett and his family," said Del Beccaro.
Olson's parents, Michael and Elizabeth Olson, as well as his brothers, junior Nick Olson and freshman Luke Olson, were also able to communicate and stay connected with the masses of people both emotionally and physically involved in the search for and remembrance of Brett.
"Social media totally impacted the search effort for Brett. It got so many people involved," said Olsson. "People could show their support to the Olsons and everyone was kept posted. It built an awesome community that will not be forgotten."
This community fed off of the spirits and hopes of others, an experience that will forever unite Lafayette in its remembrance of this tragedy. In this way, social media sites redefined Lafayette's sense of community and togetherness.
Social media sites are commonly used for basic, everyday interaction, but the numbers of people they connect inherently make them a foundation for revolutionary change. Teenagers in the Lamorinda community are inevitably separated from hard reality by the proverbial "Lafayette bubble," but the implementation of social media as a unifying device in the community has redefined the average Lafayette teenagers' interpretation of the power of social media.
"Though you hear on the news and online about the wonders of social media, like the Arab Spring movement, it always seemed really distant," said senior Maya Patrose. "But this time it was happening right here, and it really opened my eyes to just how powerful of a force [social media] is."
Many people have realized the potential of social media as a result of the use of these sites as more than just tools for friendly interactions. Although this change has been evident for years on a corporate scale, the channeling of these endless possibilities onto the local scale of a community will forever change the way users perceive online networking such as this.
"It proved that social media can spread information faster than anything in human history. It allows people to band together for important causes, and act upon them more powerfully than ever before," said Wright. "The horrible conclusion of this situation would be much harder to deal with if there wasn't an unbelievable amount of compassion generated all around the world for Brett. Nearly all of this compassion can be attributed to social media."
At the candlelight vigil, people had the opportunity to say goodbye to Olson by signing one of the many posters decorated with his picture. An event on Facebook spread word of the candlelight vigil to gather the community in honor of Olson.
As the social media revolution grows and evolves, Brett Olson will not be forgotten for the way he brought the community together, in life and in death. He has brought immeasurable change to a community previously ignorant to its potential, and his memory will live on in the hearts and computer screens of Lamorinda, Chico, and San Luis Obispo residents.
"This community has come together like I have never seen it before," said Olsson. "Only a person like Brett could do that. The Brett pages have invited people to hope together, mourn together, and celebrate the life of Brett together. We were united."
http://acalanesblueprint.com/2012/10/10/community-bands-together-online-over-devastating-loss/
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