Before Virginia Tech’s tragedy hit newsstands, students nationwide were reaching out to their friends in Blacksburg, Va.

They used the Internet and social-gathering sites such as Facebook.com and MySpace.com to spread the word about Cho Seung-Hui mowing down their friends during Monday’s rampage.

“Are you ok???? please tell me that you are ok. You should call me when you get this,” wrote Dan Heijmen, of Wisconsin, to Virginia Tech senior Alex Moore on Moore’s Facebook page early Monday afternoon.

Moore is a graduate of John Carroll High School in Bel Air.

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Before the media released the 32 names of those who died Monday, lists surfaced on many Internet networking sites. Groups popped up almost immediately, offering a place where people could find out whether their friends survived.

“We have to make sure we’re not the first ones to tell a mother their child has died,” said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader of the Poynter Institute, a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based media think tank.

“More young people rely on the Internet [for immediate information] ... but I would never publish anything from Facebook without verifying it first.”

That didn’t stop Karen Park of the Tokyo Broadcasting System in New York from reaching out to Facebook users for information about Cho. Park’s request was removed from the Web site Thursday, and she could not be reached for comment.

Facebook has more than 500 groups with thousands of members dedicated to Virginia Tech. On MySpace, words of condolence have been posted by the thousands.

“Rossmo, I love you with all my heart. My one regret is that I never actually told you that,” Leah Nicole wrote to her friend, Ross Alameddine, the day Cho killed him.

“My prayers are going out to all students, faculty and families of VT,” wrote Kristen Poynter, a University of Maryland student.

More than 100 Facebook groups have been created to express support and outrage for Cho.

“We don’t know what happened to him, or what drove him to such an extreme action,” wrote MacKenzi Swigart, a Dodge City, Kan., high schooler.

“What we do know, however, is that he is loved by God, and his memory deserves to be honored in a loving and respectful way, just as the memory of his victims.”

gsmith@baltimoreexaminer.com