The online community

I didn't know anyone at Virginia Tech. I haven't lost anyone close to me. But by virtue of being a part of the online community, I'm affected by it more than I would otherwise have been.

I'm sure by now most people have heard that Jamie Bishop, the son of author Mike Bishop, was among those killed in the shootings. I have no connection to the family but people in publishing, people's whose blogs I read, etc. do and as such I feel it a little more deeply, having a name and an identity to go along with the news headlines.

I've heard friends I've never met in real life, people who live hundreds of miles from me, talk about having close friends or family they couldn't get in touch with in the minutes or hours after the shooting started. People on message boards and livejournal who I've never met, maybe never spoken to, talk about their reactions and their friends and family and I feel far more connected to it than I otherwise would.

Does anyone else feel a stronger connection to events just by being part of this online community we all share, through blogs and LJ and message boards?