Doesn’t seem to be: The tragedy at Virginia Tech has at least captivated the mainstream media, pulling it out of its embarrassing, Anna Nicole/Imus-obsessing doldrums to a hypertensive level not seen since the aforementioned debacles plus Katrina.

Each major media disaster story since at least the dot-com bubble reveals new voices and resources from the online mediasphere, and to the extent that we know to follow them — that we can devise filters to locate them — it helps us understand these things better than we did back when most of the media we consumed was on glossy paper.

And since Drudge and MSNBC and others have already reported the name and online profile of Emily Hilscher, the first victim of yesterday’s horrible awfulness* — and as an antidote to Wayne Chiang, the Asian-American Hokie gun fetishist with girl troubles and a Livejournal account — I might as well share this screen shot from Facebook:

Her page is not public, and I suppose it will probably remain as much in the hands of her friends and family. But there are also 27 groups with her name in their main content and with hundreds of members, which grew literally overnight.

Part of me thinks there’s something invasive in writing about this, but ultimately it’s all part of the record. Here there are no candles and no songs — but it’s a digital vigil. It doesn’t convey how it actually feels, but it does show that people feel.

P.S. Via Techmeme, I see Dan Gillmor, Doc Searls and Xeni Jardin have been thinking along the same lines. And somehow, Slate’s Michael Agger managed to write an entire article about the massacre and social networking without a single mention of Facebook. Plus, according to Hotline On Call, producers from ABC and NBC have been posting interview requests to Facebook:

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the horrific tragedy at Virginia Tech. In our ongoing coverage, we want to speak with people that knew Cho Seung-Hui. We have anchors and producers on campus that would love to meet with you.

Okay, I feel a bit less of a ghoul now.

*I don’t know what else to call it, I’m never very good writing about these things, and I’ve already blown the chance to suspend blogging, which I might as well have because I didn’t have a Benchmark Poll ready to go today.

Don Imus Killed Don Ho
     –Smile Keith

P.S. Anyone else find it eerie that DON Imus got fired for calling people HOs, and then Don Ho died?
     –Tennboy

Now that Don Imus has lost his radio show, he won’t have to face additional criticism for reporting the death of Don Ho.
     –Lisa De Pasquale

Don Ho, the legendary Hawaiian crooner died of heart failure Saturday morning. Unfortunately not so many people heard the sad news because nobody in the media dared say his last name anymore.
     –Pedro Jokes

51 percent of American think Don Imus shoulda been fired, 45% thought the pollsters were making an inappropriate joke about the late, beloved Don Ho.
     –Lisa De Pasquale

Don Ho, the legendary Hawaiian crooner died of heart failure Saturday morning. Unfortunately not so many people heard the sad news because nobody in the media dared say his last name anymore.
     –Pedro Jokes

51 percent of American think Don Imus shoulda been fired, 45% thought the pollsters were making an inappropriate joke about the late, beloved Don Ho.
     –Wonkette

DON Imus gets in deep shit for using the word “HO.” Days later, Don HO dies. Hmm. I’m just saying.
     –XMASTIME

For Don Ho to die just so that I could joke that the name is now available for Don Imus to use. I met Mr. Ho in 1974. Nice guy.
     –Protein Wisdom

Let me get this straight: Don Imus drops a comment about the Rutgers women’s basketball team being a bunch of “nappy-headed ho’s,” and the mediasphere goes berzerk. But nappy-headed Hawaiin icon Don Ho dies, and you can almost hear crickets chirping out there. Coincidence or conspiracy? Discuss.
     –Charleston City Paper

No Relation to Imus
“Don Ho Dies”–headline, Pacific Business News (Honolulu), April 14
     –James Taranto

Don Imus called you “nappy-headed.”
Not very kind of him.
I’m glad he got fired.
Aloha.
     –The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs

Ah, that Bubbly-headed Ho. I apologise to Don Imus but I just couldn’t resist.
     –Victoria Ponders

In conclusion… er… beats me. But the English major in me is intrigued.

Update: Lest we forget –

If my name was taken in vain all over the news for 2 weeks straight, I’d give up too.

Sorry, Mr. Ho! R.I.P. I still remember your ABC daytime show from my childhood. My very, very early childhood. I was like an embryo, allegedly.
     –Jim Treacher

Via the comments.

GoogleTube really appears to be making a go of its YouChoose ‘08 political channel, and this week Mitt Romney became the first participant in the YouTube Spotlight. This basically means the former Massachusetts governor and (depending on the measure) second, third or fourth place candidate for the Republican nomination recorded a short video (at right) asking the YouTube community “What Do You Believe Is America’s Single Greatest Challenge?” and what would you do about it?

This survey of people with webcams was posted Wednesday, April 11, and as of Sunday, April 15, it has been viewed about 285,000 times and picked up 54 video responses. More replies are doubtless on the way [update: yep], and I’d be surprised if anybody watched them all. That job would probably fall to Stephen Smith, and in case he hasn’t sat down and picked through them all yet, I’d like to save him the at least some of the trouble.

I spent a rainy Saturday watching all the videos and took notes about each contribution. Surprisingly, all or nearly all are earnest replies, suggesting the possibility (even probability) that YouTube has removed attempted griefers. Even the Lonelygirl15 wannabe who said “preventing death” was our greatest challenge seems to believe what she’s saying. But they are not all quality, and where appropriate, I have noted the fact. And to those of you who have disabled embedding, come on.

Here’s what I found:

To sum up:

The single greatest challenge facing America today is Iraq, health care, education, fossil fuels, illegal immigration, corporations and Don Imus.